HOG Files
by TheShapeshifter100
Summary: Information and samples from the Human Order of Guardians data base. Includes Descendants and Immortal information and isolated incidents. May also contain some personal information and events surrounding Jackie Davies, each one written with her permission, of course... *looks around shiftily*
1. A Letter from Jackie

Hey

Well, I wasn't keen on getting all of this written down, sensitive stuff you know? Not just for HOG, but for me as well. 

However, after reading quite a bit of Rick Riodern's work, I decided that it was a good idea. We're still having trouble finding new Descendants, so I thought this could help get the word out. So I pulled aside a Descendant of Sandman and we got to work. 

(That would be me, TheShapeshifter100, hi!) 

I can't tell you if any of this was real, or if any of Mr. Riodern's work was real, although it would explain a few things if that were the case. 

We're still looking for Descendants, but before you think about joining us, trust me you have a choice, think on this. 

It can be dangerous. You might be lucky and have no conflict during your time with us, or you get be getting into battles with the Descendants of Pitch and Black Furs every other week. 

Most likely you won't die. There's a rule that Descendants can't kill each other unless war has been declared or you want to declare war. That isn't likely to happen, but accidents do. 

Also, we aren't heroes. What we do isn't about saving the world, it's just stopping the world we have from becoming a little darker. So if you're after world saving, tough, you won't find that here. 

If you're one of us, then you'll know. If you don't know, then I suggest you abide by one rule we promote above all others. 

Believe.


	2. Descendants of Jack Frost Information

Signature colour-pale blue

Signature weapon- Staff

Symbol-Eight sided Snowflake

Core body temperature is between 20-10 degrees Celsius. Around 20 when not emitting or controlling ice, decreasing when they are using ice. Skin temperature on average 13 degrees normally, with extremities such as nose, feet, ears and fingers going below ten.  
When using their power it goes down to around 3 or 0 degrees Celsius.

As a result their enzymes have adapted to have their optimum temperature to roughly 20 degrees. This is only shown in Descendants, normal descendants have a normal enzyme optimum temperature.

It is instinct for many Descendants of Frost to freeze water when they come into contact with it. This doesn't happen if the liquid goes straight into the mouth without touching the lips. Typically blood does not freeze as it is warmer and thicker than drinking water, it will freeze eventually, but usually the injury is dealt with or protected before the blood gets a chance to freeze.

All Descendants have the potential to use both ice and wind in their genes, but often only one is expressed unless the correct conditions are met. These conditions can occur in times of extreme stress or having physical contact with Jack's staff. In this context Jack's staff is a conduit for his power rather than the source, so his Descendants can use it to some extent.

If Wind likes them, then they can use Wind to travel around whether or not they can control air. This is an extremely rare privilege, one that not even Jackie has.

Those who control ice do so by drawing water from the air and freezing it, or by utilising already existing ice snow and frost.

Those that can manipulate air can also hear, and if they so wish, talk to, leaves.

They are descended from Jack's sister and any possible cousins he may have had. Most Descendants share similarities to Jack's appearance before he died, but occasionally you see a Descendant of Jack Frost with pale blonde hair and blue eyes.

You are unlikely to find a Descendant of Jack Frost anywhere near the equator, their family lines sticking to the Northern Hemisphere. Some are found south of the equator, very far south. This is rare however.

Jack Frost Book Spoilers!

Nightlight update

Appearance-Can now include green and hazel eyes

Powers-Photokinesis, can cause their bodies to glow and send out blasts of energy. Not shown at birth, has to be explained for a Descendant to know they can use it. It's very limited, but can be useful when fighting against the Descendants of Pitch. The light produced is painful to them.  
The ease of production and power of the light produced depends on the disposition of the user. For example, someone of a naturally cheery or mischievous disposition will have an easier time producing and managing the energy, as well as it naturally being more powerful. Examples of such would be Alice Harper and James and Jacob Beck.  
Following this, those of a gloomier or more serious disposition will find it more difficult to manage this power, as well as it being competitively weaker. Examples include Jacqueline Davies and Stephen Griffins


	3. Descendants of Bunnymund Information

Signature colour-green

Signature weapon-boomerang

Symbol-egg patterned with rings. 

Normal core body temperature, but a slightly higher metabolism due to increased athletic ability. 

All have increased athletic ability and heightened senses, all of which come from their Pooka heritage. Because Bunnymund has access to magic the Descendants also have access to this. It manifests in the form of flora and geo kinesis. As with the Descendants of Jack Frost all Descendants of Bunnymund have the genetic potential to use these powers, however if they only have access to one or none of these powers normally then it only occurs in times of extreme stress. 

Only those with geo kinesis have access to the Tunnels, however entrances to the Tunnels can be used to by anyone as long as they are already open. 

All have a connection to the time stream. Not enough to travel through it, but enough to know when time has been messed with. 

No one knows for sure the exact relation the Descendants have to Bunnymund. One story that is popular among the lines of Descendants were all of them are Descendants, (such as the Osbourne line) state that when Bunnymund shaped the earth from an egg shape to the shape it is today to prevent it from crashing into the sun, a piece of magic was left deep within a newly opened cave in Australia, unintentionally of course. It is said that the ancestors of the Descendants of Bunnymund came across this stone, and from there the stories differ, some say the ancestors touched a rock that contained the power, others say that what we know to be rabbits now (as they are not native in Australia) appeared from nowhere and passed on the power, and others say a ghostly Pooka appeared and passed on the power in a shower of moonlight. 

No one can agree on the story, but it is agreed that the Descendants of Bunnymund are among the oldest Descendants. 

There are no defined morphological traits with the Descendants of Bunnymund, making them one of the hardest set of Descendants to identify at a glance. The only key feature is that they all somehow have an Australian accent, even those who have never lived in Australia. 

Most of the Descendants live in Australia, but those who don't appear to be comfortable in any climate. As comfortable as a normal human anyway. 

They are among the most numerous Descendants.


	4. Descendants of Toothiana Information

Signature colour-purple 

Signature weapon-none, most use swords 

Symbol-Canine (tooth) 

The most obvious trait for the Descendants of Toothiana is their wings. Most common in the 21st Century are the insect like wings with the feathered, bird like wings being the minority. This wasn't always the case however, Toothiana had feathered wings in the past, and while she had them so did all of her Descendants, they made the transition from feathers to membrane at roughly the same time. 

They have a slightly higher body temperature than normal humans, their core temperature being closer to 40 degrees Celsius. As with the Descendants of Jack Frost their enzymes have adapted their optimum temperature to match them and it only occurs in Descendants. 

In order to fly they have highly adapted back, shoulder and chest muscles and have a respiratory system similar to that of a birds. Complete with air sacs and taking two breaths for the air to completely go through the lungs. This makes them the most biologically different among the HOG Descendants. 

All possess a photographic memory and an uncanny knack for learning languages. The 'most powerful' are usually determined by those with the best memory, the most skilled flyers and the best knack for languages, as a result Heads can converse in almost all the languages present on Earth at the time. 

Because of their photographic memory and general enthusiasm for teeth, many Descendants of Toothiana hold positions in the medical field or other scientific fields. They also make great record keepers as they rarely forget a fact. 

Descendants of Toothiana cannot open Tooth Boxes; that remains something only Toothiana, her Mini Fairies and the owners of the Tooth Box can do. Descendants can however understand Mini Fairies. 

It is believed that they are descended from Tooth's father, Haroom, side of the family.  
Other physical traits include; tall stature with broad shoulders and dark hair. 

They have no geographic preference.

**I only have a basic understanding of an avian respiratory system, so for anyone who knows in greater detail how it works, sorry for probably butchering it. I also understand that insects have a different respiratory system to mammals and birds, but I understand that even less, and it just didn't make sense for humans with wings to have an insect's respiratory system anyway.**


	5. Descendants of Sandman Information

Signature colour-yellow 

Signature weapon-none 

Symbol-five pointed star 

Every Descendant of Sandman has the ability to produce and manipulate Dream Sand. It however does take a lot of concentration for them to form an actual dream, and even then it takes more than one of them to do so. This is because unlike Sandman, each grain of sand has the potential for a good dream, rather than actually containing a dream. 

They can use their power to make people fall asleep, but they have no control over what they dream most of the time. They cannot make themselves fall asleep with their own power, however they have been known to occasionally fall asleep at random. 

While it is assumed the Sandman did indeed have a family, it is not believed that is why there are Descendants. Sandman crashed as a Star Captain, possibly the only one left, so the chance of any other Star Captains reaching Earth is minimal. 

The main theory is that when the Sandman crashed on earth, tiny pieces of debris made their way towards ordinary people, who are the ancestors to the Descendants of Sandman. 

They've been around roughly as long as the Descendants of Bunnymund, but unlike the Descendants of Bunnymund they have shared physical traits; short with blonde hair. They often possess an excellent imagination, but there are exceptions. 

They can use the sand to form anything and their imagination combined with the Descendants of North's inventing prowess has resulted in HOG having technology that's slightly ahead of the early 21st Century. 

They have no geographic preference.


	6. Descendants of Pitch Information

Signature colour-black 

Signature weapon-none 

Symbol-none 

The Descendants of Pitch have similar powers to the Descendants of Sandman, with some having the ability to manipulate and travel through shadows. However the shadow powers do not have the same versatility as their Nightmare Sand abilities, being limited to drawing shadows around them and travelling through them. 

Not all of them can manipulate Nightmare sand and shadows, the same thing with the Descendants of Bunnymund and Jack Frost applying here. Pitch himself did not have access to Nightmare Sand when he first started out, having gained the power between his defeats at the hands of the Guardians. His Descendants were born with an innate ability to manipulate it while Pitch was still learning, making them more skilled with it than their ancestor for a long time. 

However, it does take around half a dozen Descendants of Pitch to form a single Nightmare. 

It has been said in the past that the Descendants of Pitch can sense fear, and like their ancestor, can gain strength from it. This was confirmed by Penelope, Descendant of Pitch, who also claimed it also felt good to gain strength from fear, and that it had a similar sensation to that of a sugar rush. 

There isn't a set physical appearance, although most seem to have dark or black hair. 

It is slightly easier to determine Pitch's Descendant's origin than the Descendants of Sandman, as a member of Pitch's family appear in the spirit profile files; Mother Nature. Additions from Penelope suggest that his Descendants actually came about in a similar manner to the Descendants of Sandman. When Pitch initially arrived on earth and was held against the rock by Nightlight, small parts of his power scattered, finding people that would suit the power, and such the Descendants of Pitch came to be. 

This is however not properly confirmed as Penelope was unsure of the story's credibility. 

They are not Descended from Mother Nature, although there are Descendants of Mother Nature. Some lines contain traits from both Pitch and Mother Nature, indicating that the powers were diverted to the same line. 

The organisation of the Descendants differs from HOG, the Descendants of Pitch work in much larger groups, with groups across their respective landmass working in sync. Each continent has an underground base underneath an area which holds a lot of fear for some reason or another, be it ghost towns, abandoned theme parks etc. The North American Descendants of Pitch congregate underneath a ghost town in the centre of the continent.

Whenever Pitch is active, the Descendants are not far behind. This is usually because Pitch contacts and utilises his Descendants to his advantage. He however does not see them as family, as the line (if it is a genetic line) is barely recognisable and they are mortal, while Pitch isn't. Therefore he distances himself from them, seeing them as more of a set of minions at worst and an army at best. 

They have no geographic preference.


	7. Easter Egg

It was mild, fine by me.

There had been a mild drizzle earlier this morning, but that cleared now. I was still wearing my raincoat just in case.

I was in the park with Jamie and his friends. Pippa, Monty, Cupcake (seriously, what kind of name is that?) Claude and Caleb.

I wasn't sure I wanted to be here. I would prefer being inside in my room reading or doodling, something like that.

So I was standing by the picnic benches with Jamie's mum and Sophie, watching the kids run around with baskets.

Honestly, it made my heart hurt.

Ever since that incident with Jamie I'd been thinking more and more about my brother, I'd even pulled out that homemade necklace he gave me.

Danny was always really enthusiastic about everything. Things involving the Guardians especially, so naturally he loved Easter as well. Watching Jamie and the others running around looking for eggs reminded me of him so much it hurt.

Sophie was annoyed that her mum wouldn't let her find any more eggs with her brother. She kept on tugging on her mum's trouser leg saying pleadingly "hop?"

Mrs Bennett would then shake her head and say, "No Soph, you've got to save some for the other kids."

I'd seen Sophie's egg, and after hearing a story from Jack, found very easy to believe that Bunnymund had put that egg there especially for her.

It was a beautiful egg as well, dark green band fading into pale green further up the egg. Pink flowers and bluebells were delicately painted on the green background.

"Are you alright Jackie?" asked Mrs Bennett, giving me a gentle nudge in the arm. I ignored the blossom of uncomfortable warmth and shrugged.

"Come on, I won't tell anyone."

Sometimes Mrs Bennett could be a lot like Jamie, they had the same kind of earnest honesty. They honestly cared and wanted to help. I can't say I knew her all that well, but I certainly trusted her.

"It's... it's Danny."

Mrs Bennett nodded, understanding. "I remember watching you two. Energetic little guy."

"Yeah."

She gave me a gentle push on the shoulder, almost shoving me off the bench.

"Go on. Go find an egg. It'll cheer you up."

"No, I'm good."

"Jackie." Mrs Bennett levelled her gaze at me. "When was the last time you went hunting for Easter eggs?"

"Erm, eight years ago."

"Exactly. I know what happened to Jamie really upset you, I know I was scared when I heard what happened, I dread to think what was going through your head."

I nodded, looking at me my feet.

"But Jamie really likes you. He tends to mention you and Jack Frost in the same sentence! And you know how obsessed he is with him."

I had to smile at that. If only Mrs Bennett knew why.

"So don't disappoint him. Go find an egg."

"Fine fine." I said, getting up and wandering over to the bushes, scanning them half heartedly. I knew Bunnymund put a lot of effort into today, but I no longer saw the point. Right now I was just humouring Mrs Bennett. Why an egg anyway? How do you put an egg and a rabbit together to get Easter?

"Jackie!"

I looked up to see Jamie waving me over to a tree. He and his friends were clustered around the bottom, looking up at an egg sitting quite high up in the branches.

_What were you thinking Bunnymund? Some poor kid's going to get hurt trying to climb that._

I sighed and ran over to see what they wanted.

"Jackie, you're tall..." Started Jamie and I could see where this was going. I was easily the tallest there, even standing over Cupcake, even though I was only five foot four.

"Alright, I'll get the flipping egg." I said, taking off my coat so it wouldn't get in the way. "Stand back."

The kids parted as I assessed the tree. The nearest branches were easily above most kids arm reach, which again confused me. Why on earth would Bunnymund put an egg this out of the way?

I took a run up to pushed myself up the tree, just grabbing onto the branches. From here most wouldn't have the upper body strength to pull themselves up, and I wasn't sure I had it either.

After checking that no one else was looking I allowed frost to form around my feet, essentially sticking myself to the tree. Using them like those sticky pads you see in spy films I moved my feet up until I could get onto that branch.

The egg was still a few branches up, so I began climbing up to get to it, several branches threatening to knock my glasses off.

Finally I got to the eggs level and I looked across at where it was. It was right on the edge of the branch, sitting snugly in a fork in the twigs. The egg itself was pale blue, with some dark blue and white accents. It was kinda pretty, even if it was in precarious spot.

"Seriously Bunnymund? Some poor kid could have broken their neck trying to get this." I muttered.

I shuffled along the branch, holding onto the one above for support. The wood creaked and groaned beneath my feet and the branch began to bend alarmingly from my weight.

"Be careful Jackie!" Called up Jamie and I made the mistake of looking down.

The ground swam beneath me and I felt a little sick. I groaned and looked away, instead focusing on the blasted egg. That little thing was not worth all of this effort!

"If I fall off I'm going to find the nearest rabbit and strangle it." I muttered, and began shuffling along again.

Finally it was within reach and I bent down to get it. Once it was safely in my grip I started to move back, when the branch decided that it couldn't take my weight any longer.

There was a cracking noise and I grabbed onto the branch above me with my free hand as the branch I was standing on snapped.

Great. Just great. I thought as I watched the branch fall. Now how am I going to get back without breaking my neck?

"Are you alright Jackie?"

"Never better!" I called back down at Jamie, getting more and more irritated with the whole thing.

I carefully put the egg between my teeth and began moving hand over hand back to the tree trunk. From there it was easy.

I dropped down onto the ground and the kids erupted into cheers as I spat out the egg. In a stupid moment I decided to hold it aloft like a trophy. Not much of a trophy in my opinion, but if you looked at these kids you'd think I'd won the Olympics or something. Their enthusiasm was infectious though, and I couldn't help but grin as well.

They insisted I kept the egg, since I hadn't found any and I'd done all of the work. Shaking my head I retrieved my coat and walked back over to Mrs Bennett, still holding the egg. She'd clearly been watching the whole thing as her mouth was hanging open and her face was a little pale.

"I got an egg!" I declared, laughing despite myself. "Happy now?"

**Hey! First one shot! As you can tell this actually takes place in the first arc, but anyway.**

**My plan with these is to try and upload the existing one shots in chronological order, how well that goes depends on how many more one shots pop into my head or get requested, because I'm open to requests.**


	8. Training

"...I'm not seeing the point."

Billy folded his arms and looked me up and down. 

"I have powers, and that's not going to go away, so what's the point of learning to use weapons?" I asked, regarding the various weapons that the other members of the Burgess Branch were using. 

"One thing ya gotta know about the world you're going into." Said Billy, serious for once. "Expect the unexpected." 

"Never liked that phrase." I grumbled. "What am I expecting exactly? Anything to happen? Then why not say 'be prepared for anything'?" 

"My point still stands kid. You are going to learn with several different weapons, just in case of the unlikely occurrence of you losing or not bein' able to you your powers. Understood?" 

"...Fine, okay." 

"Good, then let's get started." 

Billy walked over to the weapons store, reached in, and pulled out a wooden sword. 

"Catch." 

I caught it just fine, and just stared at it. I could understand why I was being given the practice sword and not a real sword, but I'd fought off Descendants of Pitch on my own. I could handle a proper weapon! 

Billy seemed to sense my train of thought. 

"If you wanna try a proper sword, be my guest." He gestured to the long sword behind him. 

I strode over and lifted it off its rack. 

And almost dropped it. 

The tip thudded against the ground as I tried to lift it, but it was so heavy! I couldn't even get it above my hips. 

"Properly forged swords are heavy kiddo." I scowled at the nickname but Billy continued. "You might be half decent in a fight, but your upper body strength is pathetic. You have to train." 

"Fine." I handed the sword back to Billy, which he put back in the rack with ease. 

"Good, now pick up the wooden sword and I'll start teachin' you the basics." 

I grabbed the wooden sword from where I'd dropped it on the floor. 

"After a while I'll teach you how to use different swords." Explained Billy. "And you'll probably only use 'em if you have no other weapon, so not training with a balanced sword will do you some good." 

"Why are you telling me all this now?" 

"You've got a good academic mind kiddo. You'll remember most of this, while you're payin' attention. Now, to actual fightin'." 

Billy stood with his practice sword in both hands, directly opposite me. 

"There's a lot of leg work here. Arm strength is really only necessary to lift the sword, when it comes to defence and offence, a good technique and ability to parry rather than block is all you need." 

"Aren't there different ways of doing it? With different swords?" 

"Yeah, and I'll teach you as many as can, because the idea here is not to train you with a weapon to use forever. It's to teach you how to adapt to use any blade you might need. So no flashy stuff, only basics." 

"To start," Billy drew his sword up. "You want your sword to follow your back leg for defence, so if you watch me." 

Billy moved his left leg back, drawing his sword close to his body with the tip still pointing at me. 

"This is a move originating from China, the left parry. You try." 

I nodded and pulled my left back so that it was bent, putting a lot of my weight on it as I drew up my sword to a hopefully similar position. 

"Good, you just need to turn the blade a little." Billy went over and adjusted it slightly, so the sword edge was vertical. "There we go. Again!" 

The next few hours Billy put through the same four moves so many times I getting incredibly bored. He, however, wasn't satisfied until I could parry his strike without thinking, and after three hours, I could. 

"Good work." He said as the others collected their water after some hard training from Nigel. "We'll expand on this next week. In that time I want you to practice with anything you've got lying around. A broom, a stick, whatever." 

I resisted the urge to groan, I normally like homework, but after three hours, I thought my arms were going to drop off. 

Billy seemed to notice this however. "There's a phrase I heard somewhere. 'The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle' That's the point we're trying to get to kiddo. The easier it comes to ya when you train, when your life is actually in danger then it should be second nature. Got it?" 

"Yeah, I got it." 

"Good. See ya next week."


	9. Workshop

I looked down at the sheet of paper again, then back up at the rocks I was facing. Alfred was starting what the Heads called 'workshops', where Descendants got together to practice their powers. Alfred had never hosted one, and all the Descendants of Frost were going to be there. 

I hadn't seen them since the big HOG meeting in March, and it was now October. I wonder if they'd changed all that much. 

I ran their names through my head. There was Alfred, Chris, Stephen and Mary, I'd seen them at the base and fought alongside the latter three. There were the twins James and Jacob, Graham, Alice and Rachel. 

I looked at the sheet again, which just said to be by your nearest Tunnel opening at ten AM. We hadn't closed the Tunnels leading to the base, to be honest I think the Heads just didn't know what to do with it now, so it was just there. 

I put the piece of paper in my jeans pocket and folded my arms, hearing the rustley, crackly noise of my raincoat. I flicked my arm up to look at my watch, it was right on ten. 

I let out a breath and kicked at leaves in boredom, where were they? 

As soon as that thought went through my mind, something thudded into my shoulder. 

I let out a sigh through my nose and turned to see the twins, James and Jacob, standing behind me. The pair had the typical dark hair, dark eyes and pointed chin, however they had a more distinct, ski slope nose and high arching eyebrows. They were identical, like Nigel and Alec, but they seemed to more joined at the hip than the latter pair. 

One of them had a snowball hovering above his hand and I rolled my eyes. 

"Really?" 

"Ah, come on. Lighten up!" said the one with the snowball. Without warning he flung it at me and I ducked underneath it, allowing it splatter against the tree behind me. 

"Look, hadn't we better go, we're going to be late!" 

"Alright." They chimed together in disappointment. One tapped his foot against the ground to form the Tunnel. 

"Race you there!" They said at the same time and they shot down it on ice. 

"Hey!" I called down, before racing after them. 

I quickly caught up on my skates, much to their shock. 

"You'll have to go faster than that!" I called as I shot past them. 

I heard them conferring behind me and pretty soon they were level with me. 

"See ya!" They called and shot past me. I poured my power into my skates and shot past them. 

"See you indeed!" 

The end of the Tunnel was coming up and I held out my hand to pass through it. We got out the other side, but the twins hadn't stopped. They went up on their ice paths and I followed them, trying to work out where they were going. 

They shot through another Tunnel and once we were in I shot straight past them again. I was getting tired, so from there it became a neck and neck race to see who would get exhausted first. 

We shot out of the Tunnel and skidded to a halt, panting. 

"You, are, good." Panted one of the twins. 

"Not, bad, yourselves." I looked up to see that we were out in the middle of nowhere. Pine trees towered above us and there were patches of snow on the ground. A lake stood behind the ten of us, flat calm and shining like a mirror. I couldn't even tell what country we were in, although since Alfred was Scottish I assumed we were in Scotland. 

"Jackie!" 

Before I could react I felt something small launch itself at my back and wrap their arms around my shoulders. Only the good natured laughter stopped my sending an ice blast back there. 

"What the-?" 

Giggling in my ear told me who was now clinging to my back. 

"...Alice?" 

"Yay!" She cried in a voice I'm sure she was just putting on for laughs. I felt her slip down a bit, and caught her legs before her arms could strangle me. 

"Whoah, easy there." 

I heard her mother, Rachel, still laughing. 

"What's so funny?" 

"I don't think I've seen her do that to anyone." Said Rachel between laughs. 

"Mum!" Cried Alice indigently, while I sighed slightly, not sure whether to be annoyed or flattered. 

"Now we're all here." I heard a familiar Scottish voice say. "How about we get started?" 

I turned to see Alfred standing behind us, and my face split into a smile. 

"Alfred!" 

"Long time no see lass." He looked the same as ever. "So, let's get to training." 

"No, I want to stay on Jackie." Declared Alice from my behind my head. 

"You're not going to be able practice from my back." I said, trying to turn my head to face her, but failing. 

"Come on monkey. We're not here to mess around." Said Rachel, finally taking Alice off my back. She tried clinging to my shoulders, even my hair, but Rachel expertly peeled off her fingers off. 

"Mum!" 

"We're here to practice ours powers, not make Jackie a human climbing frame." 

"Okay..." 

I heard sniggering and I sent a glare at almost everyone else in the room. Some shut up, but Mary, James and Jacob just laughed harder. 

I think everyone except Stephen was here, which struck me as odd. I could understand if Rachel was here just to watch Alice, so maybe we weren't doing anything to do with wind today. 

Alfred clapped his hands together, getting our attention. "Alright, now that we're done turning Jackie into a climbing frame. How about we get down to practice?" 

Alfred crouched down and gestured to the snow around him. 

"So, could any of ye tell me how recent this snow is? Or where we are based on the consistency?" 

The other eight of us looked at each other with similar expressions of confusion, then one by one crouched down and poked the snow. 

The overall consensus was, no idea. 

Alfred poked the snow and said. "Well, I can tell you that this snow fell roughly two hours ago, and has a make up consistent with parts of Europe, specifically Germany." 

We all nodded incomprehensively, which I found frustrating. At school I was the one with the answers, and here I was just as clueless as everyone else. I managed to force the frustration down to mild irritation, but I was still annoyed. 

Alfred, not impressed by our efforts, spent the next few hours teaching us how to tell the age of snow and consistency for geography. I'd be lying if I said it was engaging, and I know the twins and Alice were bored, as they were acting up. Chris, Mary and Rachel were struggling to remain focused, it seemed that Graham and I were the only ones trying to pay attention. 

"So, now I've managed to bore ye senseless." Said Alfred after what felt like an eternity. "I expect you to remember all of this for next time, and once you've proved ye can do it, then we'll move onto the interesting stuff." 

So with a unanimous groan we were dismissed, each of us trying to retain the information we'd just been given.


	10. Jackie's Indestructable Hoodie

It had been a few months since the end of the war and things were getting better. Jack was back in Burgess for the winter and practice got underway.

I was actually planning on getting him a Christmas present this year, as we'd met too late to exchange presents last time, so now would have to do.

However, I was having trouble. What do you get a teenager who'd lived for 300 years?

We were done practicing for the night and were just sitting in the trees. I was trying to work out how to subtly ask him what he's like for Christmas, but he was also being quiet, which had me worried.

"Are you okay? You're being really quiet." I asked him, which caused him to start in surprise.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine."

"Just distracted?"

"Hmmm." He was staring back into space.

"Uh oh, that can only mean you're planning something. I thought you'd already frozen something in the Warren?"

A grin formed across Jack's face as he swung his legs from the branch, his staff across his lap.

"Ah, Kangaroo's face was hilarious!"

I chuckled and leaned back, looking at the half moon hanging in the sky above us.

"Are you doing anything for Christmas?" I asked.

"Dunno. North might put on a party like he did last year."

"Sounds good."

"Yeah, it was. What about you?"

"Probably the usual. Spend the day with my parents and spend the next few days visiting aunts and uncles. Although this year I do have a lot more people to get presents for."

"Seriously?"

"Well, yeah. I've only have to get stuff for my parents, now I've suddenly been given more friends than I know what to do with!"

Jack let out a chuckle. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

Another pause.

"Got anything good last year?" I asked, hoping to get ideas for his present.

"Better than the past few years. I hold the record on the naughty list."

I had to laugh. "What did you do to earn that?!"

"A few pranks, the odd intrusion on someone else's holiday..."

"I bet Bunnymund loved that."

"It's not just Bunny!" He protested, then admitted. "But it was him mainly."

"Was there any reason, or do you just enjoy messing with him?"

"Ah, Easter Kangaroo's easy to wind up."

There was another companionable pause, then Jack stood up on his part of the branch.

"I'd better go. Job to do, you know."

"I know. See you tomorrow."

With a grin Jack jumped into the air was caught by the wind, which carried him high into the sky. I watched him careen over the clouds as he whooped.

I sat there for a while longer, looking at the moon.

"Any idea what to get him?" I asked out loud, still gazing at the moon. I didn't get a response, but I wasn't expecting one.

I jumped down from the tree and collected my jacket from a lower hanging branch, putting on as I walked home. It was starting to get a little small for me, I'd had for a couple of years, but I'd thought I'd stopped growing by now. Looks like that wasn't the case.

My mind wandered as I walked back, the various noises of the woods fading into the background as I crunched through the snow.

My main concern was still on Jack's present, what on earth to get him? Clothes wouldn't work, and I doubted that he'd appreciate any kind of jewellery no matter how heartfelt. I knew that he saw Burgess as his home, but I had no idea where he actually lived, did he have a den someone? Did he have anywhere to put little knick knacks?

Since I didn't have the answer my present would have to be small, something that could be easily carried around if necessary. However not so small that it would get lost easily.

There was a blur of red in my vision and I was jolted from my thoughts. I turned my head to look to see a red and white tail disappear into the undergrowth; just a fox.

A fox huh?

An idea formed in my mind and a smile spread across my face. That was it!

It took a while for it to be ready. I kept on restarting because I wasn't happy with it.

It was an interesting project on its own, and it was helping with my own control, but I didn't really have the time to take my time with it.

Christmas Eve came and I was out by the lake again, my present stowed safely in a nearby tree. I had my hands in my pockets in my jeans and was kicking at the ice with nervous energy. I'd never done this before.

Jack came in for a landing and we got down to practicing as always, but I think we were both a little distracted tonight.

"Are you alright?" I ended up asking as Jack didn't seem to notice as I pulled off the technique perfectly. "You've been distracted since you got here."

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Well um."

He jumped up into a nearby tree, reached inside the trunk and pulled out a brightly wrapped package.

"I didn't get you anything for your birthday, so I thought..." He trailed off, holding the package out towards me.

I was left speechless, my mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out.

"I, um, thank you. Don't worry about my birthday, it's in summer after all." I said a little awkwardly as I took the present. It felt soft and a little squashy.

"I, um, I've got something for you as well."

Jack's eyebrows knitted together and his mouth formed an 'O'. He had been expecting this about as much as I had.

I carefully put Jack's present down and went up into the tree where I'd put mine.

"It isn't wrapped, but..."

My fingers wrapped around the ice figure and pulled it out of the hole in the trunk. It was small enough to fit into my fist.

I jumped down and went back over to Jack, picking up his present to me.

I held out my hand and uncurled my fist. Revealing the small ice figure of a fox.

"Merry Christmas."

Jack picked it up and spun it carefully in his hands, looking at it from every angle as a smile grew on his face.

"Wow, I, um. Thanks."

I poked at the ground with my foot and nervously shoved my glasses up my nose. "I wasn't really sure about what to get you, so, um..." Tonight was the night when neither of us knew what to say, clearly.

"No, it's really good. I like it." He said, carefully tucking the fox into his hoodie pocket.

"Thanks."

I looked down at the present in my hand. "Do you want me to open this now, or do you want me to wait until tomorrow?"

"You can open it now if you want."

I carefully pulled apart the sellotape holding the paper together. It wasn't the neatest wrapping I'd ever seen, but I doubted that Jack had had that much practice.

My eyebrows scrunched together as something pale blue came into view. What on earth...?

The last of the wrapping paper fell away and a small smile appeared on my face. It was a hoodie, a similar style to Jack's and pale blue.

"Soooo...?" Jack was rocking back and forth on his heels with nervous energy.

"It's great." I said, my smile widening. I stuffed the wrapping paper in my jeans back pocket and pulled the hoodie over my head. It was a little big, but given how my coat was starting to get small I imagined that I'd grow into this.

"I noticed that your coat was getting a bit small, I asked North to help me out with it. Apparently it won't rip."

"I'd rather not put that to the test." I said, shaking back the slightly too long sleeves. "Thanks. Really, thanks."

"Well, like I said, I felt bad about not getting you anything for your birthday."

"My birthday is on the summer solstice, I don't blame you for not being there. I certainly wasn't in the mood to celebrate."

"Really?"

"I never am, it's always too hot."

I put my hands in my new pocket, feeling the not too thick fabric. North had certainly known what he was doing when he made this, he knew I wouldn't need much in the way of cold protection.

"So, is North throwing a party this year?" I asked, remembering the last time we'd talked about Christmas.

"Yeah, dunno know how many's gonna be there." Jack put his hands in his own pocket.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something golden and shining. Looking up I could see Sandman's sand streams above my head.

"Looks like that's my cue to go home."

"Yeah, enjoy tomorrow."

"You enjoy that party."

Jack grinned and took off, neither of us really up for something like a hug. This evening had been equally awkward and heart warming enough. A hug might have brought that up to unbearable levels.

I retrieved my coat and tied the arms around my waist as fat flakes of snow fell from the sky.

I grinned and held out my hand, adding a few snowflakes to the mix around me.

I formed a small ball of snow and threw high into the air, where I flared my fingers and caused it to split. My own snowflakes began falling from the sky, but didn't last that long. That still needed work.

I went to bed with a grin on my face, my new hoodie hanging on the back of my door. This was going to be a good year, I could feel it.

**A bit of a fluff chapter time, I've still got a few to get through. On a side note, this one is important to the next arc, as it basically explains why Jackie suddenly has a hoodie.**


	11. Bullies Part One

There are many things that Tina Hawkins would never stand for, and bullying is one of them.

Tina had taken her break at the shop later than usual, so ended up walking around town as the various schools broke up for the day.

_Maybe I should pop over and see Jackie_ She thought, then shook her head. _Better not, I'll only embarrass her._

"Oi, Davies!"

Tina jerked her head up in the direction of the voice, and saw that it came from someone clearly on the lower end of the IQ spectrum and built like a football player. Tina frowned, she couldn't imagine Jackie being friends with this boy.

Her frown only increased as the familiar raincoat didn't even seem to acknowledge him. What were those two playing at?

"Going to play with your imaginary friend again!?"

Tina stopped dead still in the middle of the street, she now saw this situation for what it was, and she was not going to stand for it.

Except, Jackie didn't react. Tina couldn't see her face from here, but her walking pace didn't change, neither did the position of her shoulders. She gave no sign of even hearing the brute.

The brute's friends started to laugh as he barrelled straight through the crowd towards her.

"Don't ignore me!"

But that's exactly what she carried on doing.

The bully, having had enough, grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, making her face him.

"What have you got to say now, huh?"

Jackie didn't even blink, and Tina saw something that honestly shocked her. Jackie didn't care.

Jacqueline Davies; the girl who'd ended the war with a blast of ice, the girl who had braved a trip to the North and South Poles to save HOG, didn't care that she was getting bullied.

That didn't sit right in Tina's eyes. The Jackie she knew would be in this bully's face, either coming back with a cutting comment or just flat out threatening him. However, this version of Jackie, didn't.

"You deaf or something?" Asked the bully, before giving Jackie a shove. Jackie took the shove well, and once she was out of reach she began to walk away.

"What makes you think you can walk away from me?!" Snarled the bully, grabbing Jackie's shoulder again.

Tina had seen enough at this point, so put on a disapproving glare she usually only ever reserved for Billy, and stormed over.

"Stop right there!" She voice cut through the sounds of chatter like a knife and the bully stopped what he was doing. Everyone else stopped as well and stared, wondering where on earth this would go.

"How dare you." She said, reaching the bully. He stood at roughly the same height as Tina, but he almost seemed to quail under her gaze.

"What makes you think you can go around abusing someone in the open like that?!"

"I-I wasn't." Tina had to admit, the bully was a decent actor. "I was just trying to get my pen back."

"Don't give me that. Your teachers might fall for that act, but I certainly won't. I saw the whole thing from across the street!"

Out of the corner of her eye Tina saw Jackie stiffen, and she almost wanted to sigh. Of course what would get Jackie to react would be the fact that someone saw.

The bully on the other hand, dropped his act and his face turned into a sneer, but Tina's eye quickly saw that he was shaking slightly.

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Personal vendetta, now get out of here before I find out who your parents are."

The bully opened his mouth to laugh, then stopped when he realised that Tina was serious. He took one last glare at Jackie before taking off, his gang laughing behind him.

Tina let out the breath she didn't realise she had been holding, then noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Jackie."

The young ice mover froze in place, then turned to face her.

Tina seemed to be at loss for what to say, then finally came out with something as the crowd lost interest and moved on.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Jackie shrugged. "Never came up."

Well, at least she wasn't denying that it was a problem.

Tina's stance softened. "Jackie, we're your friends, you can come to us about stuff like this."

There was a guarded look in Jackie's brown eyes that almost broke Tina's heart. She was just like the ice she wielded, seemingly see through and strong, but get close enough and you see how complex and easy it is to break.

"It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter? How so?"

"It just doesn't."

Tina paused to gather her thoughts, trying to work out the best way to approach this without scaring off the teen.

"How long has this been going on?"

It was a long shot, and to Tina's dismay, it fell short as Jackie only strengthened the wall around her.

"It doesn't matter. I'd better go home now."

Without waiting for Tina's reply Jackie turned and left, presumably heading for home. Tina stood in her wake, trying to figure out how to handle this. She wouldn't stand by as Jackie was bullied, that was for certain!

With that in mind Tina turned on her heel to approach the school, she had something to tell them.

Tina slammed the door of her house shut, letting out her frustration. The school had been less than helpful. Because she wasn't related to any of the children they had every reason to not listen to her, when they finally did there was a lot of shuffling of paper and those dreaded words.

"We'll look into it."

'_We'll look into it' Pah, they don't plan on doing anything to help the children they're supposed to be looking after!_

Tina's wings sprung out of the carefully concealed holes in her clothes out of her frustration. The membrane of the limbs twitched and shuddered in her frustration as she tore around the kitchen, sorting out her evening meal.

The result wasn't spectacular, but Tina didn't care as she ate, her mind whirring as past as her wings.

There had to be something, she wasn't going to stand by as Jackie got bullied.

A thought came to her, does her mother know? That was a good point, but possibly straying a little far into Jackie's personal life. Contacting the school was fine, but her parents, that might be pushing it.

Tina continued down this line as she ate, no longer tasting the food. Maybe she could just talk to Jackie mother. The Burgess Branch and the rest of the Davies clan didn't exactly get along, after they'd put their daughter into some harrowing and even life threatening situations.

_Just a talk, to smooth out relations._ Justified Tina, _and if Jackie's school life comes up, then that's just how it is._

Mrs Davies had been less than happy when she learned that it was someone from HOG on the phone.

"What now? Anything else you want to drag my daughter into? You almost got her killed!"

"That was never our intention, she came to the base under her steam. We would never have allowed an under eighteen year old to fight."

"Then why did you?!"

"Mrs Davies, I'm not saying what we did was right, and I think that now is the time to start mending bridges."

"Oh, so you think you can order me around as well?!"

"Mrs Davies, please. We don't want to have this kind of relationship with you. Believe or not we all care about your daughter-."

Tina was cut off by a snort on the other end of the line, but continued speaking regardless.

"-And we do not want to have this kind of antagonistic relationship with you. All I'm suggesting is that we meet up for a coffee somewhere."

There was a pause on the end of the line, then.

"Fine."

It was pure coincidence that they ended up in the same coffee shop where they'd gone after the meeting back in February, where Billy had gotten incredibly hyper on caffeine. The memory still made Tina smile and groan at the same time.

Mrs Davies could almost be an older version of her daughter. She wasn't as gangly and her face was more heart shaped than Jackie's angular features, but other than that...

Mrs Davies eyed Tina warily as she approached, watching as the taller woman sat down at the table.

"How are you?" Asked Tina politely, feeling the coldness rolling off this woman as though Jackie was in the room.

"Fine. How about you, Miss...?"

"Hawkins. Tina Hawkins." Tina held out her hand, which Mrs Davies warily shook. Good, she was at least willing to listen.

"So, what is this about exactly?"

"Exactly what I said over the phone, I want to smooth things out."

Tina sipped her coffee, waiting for Mrs Davies reaction.

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Well, I thought, start off with a conversation, get to know each other a little."

"I suppose we'd better get on first name terms then." Mrs Davies straightened her shoulders. "I'm Charlotte."

"Pleased to meet you Charlotte."

A few awkward seconds.

"What do you do?"

"For a living?" Tina raised a curious eyebrow. "I co run a bookshop with another member of HOG."

"Do I know it?"

"Possibly, I've seen Jackie in there a few times, even before we knew her heritage."

"Ah, you must be Bookmark." A ghost of a smile appeared on Charlotte's face. "It's one of her favourite places to go after school."

"Is that so?" Tina was also smiling. "That would explain why I see here there so often."

"Has Jackie not mentioned it to you?" Charlotte seemed honestly curious.

"No, she hasn't. We don't often talk about that kind of thing. It's mainly upcoming events and the newly introduced combat sections."

Charlotte's eyebrows went up into her fringe and Tina backpedalled.

"It's nothing serious, we never get hurt, and even if we do, both Nigel and I have First Aid experience."

"Hmmm." Charlotte still seemed unconvinced. A thought seemed to occur to the woman, and she tapped her mug nervously before saying it.

"Has Jackie ever talked to you about school?"

Tina could guess where this was going, but chose to remain oblivious.

"Not really. We've asked a couple of times, but she says she's doing fine."

"Oh, never mind then."

Tina also tapped her glass nervously, here goes nothing.

"Is this to do with Jackie getting bullied?"

Charlotte looked at Tina in shock. "How do you know about that? You said she never mentioned it."

"And she still hasn't. I saw it happen the other day."

Charlotte's expression softened and she sighed.

"It doesn't surprise me."

"You mean you knew about this?!"

"Of course I did. I'm her mother. It's just that school is useless at dealing with them."

Charlotte looked down at her coffee. "I just wish she'd talk to me about it. Or anyone. I thought she'd tell you lot at least. She seems to think the world of you."

There was no trace of bitterness in Charlotte's voice as she described HOG.

"Well, she's certainly learning to relax in meetings. She and Billy get on like a house on fire."

The fire analogy brought a smile to Charlotte's face. "So I've heard, did they freeze some of the equipment by any chance?"

The small smile disappeared from Tina's face as she remembered that incident. The pair of troublemakers hadn't even looked sheepish as Tina and Nigel told them off, the two youngest members were becoming as thick as thieve when it came to practical jokes.

"They didn't even look ashamed, they just laughed. I never thought Jackie would turn out to be a prankster."

"Oh you should have seen her when she was younger. She was always getting Daniel to pull pranks with her. You couldn't step into a room without worrying that you were going to slip on a patch of ice."

Tina could visualise it, and her smile joined Charlottes.

Charlotte for a moment stopped smiling and looked at Tina critically.

"You've done her a world of good, you know."

"Even though we've almost got her killed?" Tina tried making a joke, and it fell flat as Charlotte's face hardened.

"Aside from that. She never really seemed to recover from Daniel's death, and she never made friends her own age. Still hasn't."

Charlotte looked Tina straight in the eyes. "Even so, I can say that you, Jamie and Jack have changed her. She's not just surviving any more. She's living."

"Very poetic of you."

"It's the most accurate way of describing what's happened. I'd almost forgotten what it looked like to see her smile."

"I didn't realise that it was that bad."

"I'm exaggerating, but not by much."

Charlotte tapped her mug again, a thought having come to her.

"You say you saw her getting bullied the other day, what happened?"

Tina frowned and put down her mug. "It was the strangest thing, this boy was shouting at her, pushing her, and she took in stride, it was almost as if she didn't care."

Charlotte nodded. "That doesn't surprise me. It was how some actually concerned teachers said it was like."

"I wasn't going to stand by and watch however." Tina continued. "Once he started becoming physical I stepped in and told him off. Once I was down I noticed that Jackie was trying to slip away, when I called her out on it she said that it didn't matter and walked away."

"Hmmm, Jackie never did like anyone fighting her battles for her." Mused Charlotte. "When I did tell the school she, well, she didn't say anything, but she was leaving frosty imprints on the chair when I told her."

"So that's it then, she acted coldly because she was angry that I got involved?"

"Possibly, you'll have to ask her yourself. There are times where I can't tell what's going on inside her head."

"I'll ask her next time I can get her alone." Said Tina, definitely not planning on letting the matter drop with the teenager.

The watch on Charlotte's wrist beeped and she looked at it, sighing.

"Well, I have to go." She said standing up. "It was nice talking with you Tina."

"It was nice talking to you too Charlotte. I hope we can do something like this again."

"You know what, me too."

Tina's chance appeared at the next meeting.

Nigel was the most experienced with self defence and swordsmanship, so he led the sessions, strangely with Billy. The Australian also had a lot of experience in fighting, having come from a long line of accomplished fighters.

Once practice was over Tina quickly noticed the Jackie was lagging behind, clearly waiting for Tina to disappear before she did. Jackie even went as far as openly planning a new prank with Billy.

Tina however, was patient. After telling Sally that she needed to talk to Jackie about something, Tina stood on the other side of the door, waiting for the teenager to come through the door.

Finally she did, still in deep conversation with Billy, but Tina was undeterred.

"Jackie, a word?"

Jackie froze mid sentence and looked at Tina.

"W-well, I-I- I've got to get home."

"I'll explain to your mother. This can't wait."

"Uh oh, looks like Tina's got it in for ya kiddo." Billy nudged Jackie in the side. "Not much point fighting it, she's gonna get ya eventually. See you later."

With that Billy also left, leaving Jackie no choice but to talk to Tina. She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked up at Tina.

"I've told you, it doesn't matter."

"To you perhaps, but we care about you, and we don't want you to suffer."

"I'm not." Insisted Jackie.

"I saw that boy shoving around! Are you telling me you don't care about that?"

"Yes I am, because _he_ doesn't matter."

That threw Tina off. "What?"

"That's why I don't care. Because they're just people trying to make themselves feel better by picking on someone who they see as weaker. If they resort to that, then they don't matter in my eyes. It's their issue, not mine."

Tina blinked in surprise. There was wisdom to Jackie's words, no doubt about it. It was clear that she had been thinking on it as well.

Tina's stance softened. "Look, as you say, to you it doesn't matter, but I do have to ask; how often does it happen?"

"Every now and again."

Tina folded her arms and looked down at Jackie. "Jackie. The truth."

Jackie's shoulders slumped. "Fine, nearly every day."

"And you're sure it doesn't bother you?"

"It's a little irritating sure, but it usually only happens on the way to and from school."

_Where the bullies can't get reprimanded._

"Look, if it ever gets too much, you can talk to us you know."

"Sure." Said Jackie, but Tina wasn't convinced.

"I mean it. If you feel that it's too much, you come and talk to us. We may not be your family, but we are your friends, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

That last sentence seemed to strike a chord with Jackie, her eyes watering. Jackie looked down so Tina wouldn't see, but she didn't get there quick enough.

Tina didn't say anything, instead wrapping her arm around the teen's shoulders. Jackie stiffened under Tina's touch, whether it was from the heat or the unexpected contact Tina couldn't tell.

"There's no shame in telling people how you feel. I know it's easier said than done and it does take baby steps, but it's doable."

Jackie's shoulders seemed to tense up, then they relaxed and leaned slightly into Tina's arm. A sniff from the teen seemed to surprise the pair, but Tina didn't let it show. Instead she pulled the smaller girl into a hug and let her cry on her shoulder.

All too quickly Jackie pulled back, wiping her face roughly.

"S-sorry. I'd better go." Before Tina could say or do anything Jackie had run off.

"Baby steps Jackie." Said Tina, knowing full well the teen could hear her in the echoing corridors. "Baby steps."

She hadn't opened up like Tina had hoped, but it was a start.


	12. Bullies Part Two

Sally was interesting.

Like her ancestor, she didn't always feel the need to speak, so being so quiet helped her notice things.

Things like Jackie.

To Sally's well trained and experienced eye, she could see that the girl had built a wall around herself, a wall she wasn't even aware existed.

Sally was not the oldest in the group by any stretch, but sometimes she just knew what to do in the situation, she was one of those kinds of people.

After the incident where Jackie had almost frozen the meeting room, Sally had become a little protective of her, not enough to get in her way, but enough for her to see Jackie as the little sister she never had.

In Sally's mind, Tina was her sister, close enough to be twins, while Jackie was the kid sister who everyone looked out for.

So when Sally caught wind of Jackie being bullied, she wasn't going to stand for it. Yes she was short, but she could put on this air that made people suddenly wet themselves.

You didn't want to mess with Sally.

Sally suspected that she wasn't supposed to know, Tina had called Jackie away to talk about it in private and it wasn't as if Jackie couldn't look after herself. However, it didn't mean that Sally wasn't going to attempt something.

Sally was in position, on a bench that was directly on the school route. She had a book open in her hands, but she wasn't reading it, instead she was waiting for school to end.

The bell rang and Sally scanned the surge of teenagers leaving the high school, looking for a familiar face.

She quickly spotted Jackie, walking away at a normal walking pace. Jackie hadn't seemed to notice her, which was probably a good thing. The last thing Sally wanted Jackie to think was that they were keeping tabs on her.

Sally frowned in concern as a group of teenagers approached Jackie from behind. Sally had noticed that Jackie had never said anything about friends. She always had time for her Branch, and she never said that she had to dash to go and meet someone.

That could mean nothing, but it could mean everything.

Sally stood up from the bench as the teens put their hand on Jackie's shoulder, pulling her to stop. From here Sally couldn't hear what was being said, but when the other teen started pushing Jackie, she decided to get involved.

It was breaking a lot of rules, but Sally charging up wouldn't help anything. Someone showing up the bullies would only make things worse.

A stream of golden sand snaked its way through the crowd and wrapped itself around the legs of the bullies. A quick tug from Sally and the bullies fell to the ground, not taking Jackie with them.

While the bullies floundered Jackie took the sensible option and walked away. Sally couldn't tell if Jackie had noticed the Dream Sand, hopefully she'd just think that the bullies had had a bout of dizziness.

Sally sat back down and got back to her book, not noticed a cold presence until it was too late.

"You didn't have to do that."

Sally started and looked to her right where Jackie was standing. Sally bit back a curse, Jackie had noticed.

"Jackie-."

"Don't."

Sally blinked in surprise. Jackie could be distant, sometimes cold (if you pardon the pun) but never rude.

Sally took a good look at Jackie's face and saw something that almost scared her. Jackie was angry.

She'd been slowly letting go of her rigid emotional control around them, if you ignored extreme circumstances, but Jackie seemed to be the kind person who rarely got angry, she would just take it in her stride. It wasn't obvious, raging anger, but the look in her eyes and the clenched fist showed her quiet anger.

When Jackie spoke next, her voice was shaking slightly.

"I appreciate what you and Tina are trying to do. I really do, but you _don't_ have to."

"You mean that you don't want us to."

"It's not an issue."

Sally put her book down and regarded the teenager.

"It is an issue. I know you don't us to get involved, but you're one of us now. We protect each other."

"I don't need protecting!"

Sally jerked back in the bench. Jackie had never raised her voice like that, ever. For the first time in the time that Sally had known Jackie, cracks were appearing in her mask. Jackie looked livid.

That scared Sally.

Jackie seemed to realise the reaction she'd had on Sally and pulled back, regret leaking through the mask.

"I...Um..."

Sally stood up, having recovered. She gave Jackie a stern look and shook her head.

"You are not alone any more Jackie."

With that Sally walked off, leaving a confused Jackie in her wake.

Jackie shook her head as she walked home, scowling and muttering to herself.

"What does she mean that I'm not alone, I know that! It's not their business."

_Give over, it's not as if you'd know the difference_

Jackie winced and shook her head again; it had been just under a year since her thoughts had started to spiral like that.

Just under a year, around about when I met HOG and Jamie...

Jackie frowned, not quite able to fathom it. Was that it? HOG and Jamie had stopped that.

And Jack.

Yes, that was true. Something did feel lighter when considering those six, but for the life of her Jackie couldn't quite put her finger on exactly why.

_I care about them sure. When HOG was overrun I was scared out of my mind for them, and Jamie and Jack did stay at the lake to make sure I was okay, and they were worried after that whole thing with Pitch in Burgess._

_They care._

The conclusion hit Jackie with the speed of a bullet train, causing her to stop in her tracks.

_That's it! Is it? No, yes? I don't know..._

Still a little confused Jackie continued walking, but this time with a slight spring in her step. In her mind she made a promise to apologise to Sally at the earliest opportunity.

**If it seems like I'm rushing to upload these, it's because I am. I realised I had a day until I planned to upload Howling Shadows, and I still had a bunch of one shots to get through, so I'll try to stagger them out over tonight and tomorrow. After that it will be back to normal updating with Howling Shadows.**


	13. Nightmares

Knock knock.

Billy opened his eyes blearily, then groaned and rolled over to get back to sleep. Probably just a bird.

Knock knock knock.

Oh for...

Billy rolled over and looked at the window, and got the shock of his life.

Why on earth was Jackie at his window?

Billy thanked his lucky stars that he was at least in underwear, Jackie may be sixteen, but he wasn't going to be the one to reveal that kind of thing to her.

Billy jumped out of bed and threw open the window, letting the sticky summer air into his cool room. The teen was standing on a rail of ice outside his window, there were dark shadows under her eyes, and her breathing suggested that she had either come over as quickly as possible, or had had a serious scare.

These details were however lost to the tired Australian.

"What the hell kid? It's two in the morning!"

Jackie looked down and shuffled her feet.

"S-sorry, I wasn't thinking, um..."

Billy frowned, he knew the kid well enough to know that something was bothering her, at this late it could only be a nightmare. But why come to him? Why not her parents, or even Sally? Sally would be a better choice than him!

"Give me too seconds kiddo."

Jackie looked up as Billy retreated into his room and pulled on some clothes before gesturing for her to come in.

The pair went to the kitchen where Billy poured some milk and shoved it in Jackie's hand. Her hidden distress was made apparent when the glass began to frost over. Only now did Billy notice the other obvious signs of what was up, but decided to let Jackie say it.

"What's up?"

Jackie looked down at her milk and swilled it slightly out of nervousness.

"Hey, something must be up if you've come to me of all people."

A small smile appeared on Jackie's face.

"I, I had a nightmare."

"Yeah?" Billy leaned against the counter with his arms folded.

Jackie shook her head, not going into any more detail.

"I thought you were getting help, I know Nigel-."

"I know, but, sometimes..."

"Sometimes they happen anyway."

"Yeah."

Jackie wasn't looking up to see Billy's sympathetic face.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Jackie shrugged. "I don't want to bother you."

"You've gotten me out of bed at two in the morning, any bothering has already been done." Billy immediately realised that was the wrong thing to say, as Jackie practically drew herself inwards.

Billy let out a sigh threw his nose. He knew Jackie's situation, he'd passed by her school on his way to work and he'd seen that she walked alone, and no one greeted her at the gates, unless an insult counted. The insults never seemed to bother Jackie, and she kept herself to herself. The problem was she didn't know how to ask for help.

And help was something she clearly needed.

"_Why me?"_ Billy asked himself. "_Claire and Sally are better at this sort of thing..."_

"It was Penelope."

The admission seemed to come unbidden from Jackie's mouth, and she clearly regretted saying it.

"Her dying?"

Jackie's look told Billy he'd hit the nail on the head. It didn't surprise him, the anniversary of her death was coming up, and even he was getting the occasional bad dream.

"You did what you could, and you got the rest of us out of there." Billy's expression softened. "And, if it helps, the rest of us feel guilty too. We all wish we could have done something more, especially after how we treated her before..."

Jackie nodded and took a sip of her no doubt almost freezing milk. That was a start.

Silence descended on the room as Billy tried to work out what else to say. He still couldn't work out why Jackie would come to him, Claire and Sally were better people at talking it over with; he was always too impatient.

He could people forget about their problems, sure...

His eyes lit up, that was it! Jackie didn't want to talk about it, she wanted to forget it, and talking about it or going back to sleep doesn't help with that.

"Hey, I got a racing game the other day. Wanna try it?"

Jackie looked up again and a ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Yeah, if it's not-."

"Ah, don't worry about it, I think work can live without me for one day."

Jackie's smile widened as Billy went to go set up the game. This was what she needed, a bit of fun to forget.

Morning found the pair in Billy's main room, the controllers by their feet. Billy had fallen asleep, his head tilted back and mouth open as he snored.

Jackie was curled up on the sofa, close but not too close to the Australian. She wasn't quite asleep, but it was calling to her. Her sleepy eyes landed on Billy, she may not have had an older sibling before, but she bet that this is what having a big brother felt like.


	14. Jackie's Room Part One

**Before we start, a big thanks to ImagiTheNation for favourting and following. Since you are the first to do so for this story, you get a cookie! (::)**

Jamie was the one who got house visits from Jack. I think I just found the idea of having Jack in my room a bit too awkward, not that I could probably explain that to the immortal teenager. He didn't see the issue. 

So, after a good few years of pestering I finally caved, and let him come in. 

He came in through the window, because of course he did, and stood on the sill for a good minute, looking at my room. 

My room wasn't like Jamie's, and it wasn't a typical girls room either. Posters of band members and celebrities did not adorn the walls, and pink didn't dare show its face. 

The walls were a navy blue and undecorated. To the right of the window sat a desk and a bookshelf. There were shelves above the desk as well, with various knick knacks I had collected over the years. The desk was also tidy, with textbooks, workbooks and sketchbooks (the latter hidden under piles of the former). A laptop case was propped up against it, but it didn't see much use except for school. 

Beneath the window was a wooden bedside table, with the essentials; an alarm clock, hairbrush, hair bands and some loose change. 

To the left of the window was my bed, the duvet being decorated with my favourite animal, tigers. On the wall next to it was a pinboard, which had a few photos and notes for me to remember. 

Further down on the left side was a chest of drawers made of dark wood, which had a CD player and a small pile of CDs on top of it. 

Finally was the door, which again was plain, only with my pale blue hoodie hanging off the door handle. 

Over the bed and along the floor about the same width as the bedside cabinet was a thick layer of frost. I had a habit of lowering the temperature when I slept, and from what I saw in the Sleeping Quarters in the base, I wasn't the only one. 

It got worse when I had a nightmare, and now the frost was threatening to cover the pin board. I had to remember to clear the board before that happened. 

Jack gave the room a good look before jumping over the bedside table and landing next to my bed, which I was sitting on. 

"It's tidy." Was all he had to say. 

"Yes." I said, sitting cross legged on the bed. "What were you expecting?" 

"I dunno, a bit of mess. Make-up on the floor perhaps?" 

"I don't wear make-up." I said dryly, folding my arms and glancing at my dark green,  
clean, floor. 

"Okay, you really aren't normal." 

"What gave that away? The ice powers?" 

"Oh no, that's normal. But, it's almost too neat in here. Is it always like this?" 

"Yes." 

"Why?" 

I shrugged. "I like things tidy. Also I found that leaving things next to the bed tended to get them frozen. I lost quite a few books doing that." 

"But you've got loads." Said Jack, meandering over to my book shelf. "I haven't even heard of most of these." 

"Your loss." 

"Can I borrow one?" 

"Only if you read it in here. I'm not risking losing them." 

"You don't trust me?" Jack gave me his cocky half smirk over his shoulder. 

"Not with books." 

"Touchy. Okay I'll leave them alone." 

Jack moved on, looking at my CD collection. It wasn't all that extensive, I'd recently gotten a Disney CD, which got me to watch some of the movies again. I tended to like ballad like songs, so that was majority of my collection. Once again, Jack hadn't heard of most of them. 

One CD was still in the player, and out of curiosity he pressed play. The soft beginning notes of "A Hundred Reasons" began to play and I began to sway as I listened. That was one of my favourites. 

Jack however wasn't impressed. 

"That's a little depressing." 

"Sorry that you don't like my taste in music." I replied, but I wasn't too bothered. I'd already had Billy complain about my music taste, he was the one who gave me the Disney CD. 

"Want me to put on the Disney CD?" 

"If you want." 

I watched, trying not to laugh, as Jack tried to work out how to open the CD Player. In his defence it wasn't obvious. After a few minutes I got up and pressed the switch  
underneath the music player. The lid flicked up, Jack had already stopped the song, and he went a little red. 

"I knew that." 

"You're not the first to get confused, and you won't be the last." I assured. I then gave him a nudge. "So how about you put on your choice of music?" 

Jack popped in the CD and selected 'Gospel Truth' from Hercules. I hadn't watched the film, so this song was new to me. 

"Bit more like it." Commented Jack, "But seriously, you need to get some classics in here." 

"Like the Beatles?" 

"Nah, I don't think they're not all that great. Others from that era aren't bad though, you can check them out." 

"Sure I'll only be able to get them on vinyl, and I don't have a record player." 

"You can probably get it online. According to Jamie anyway." 

"I wouldn't know." I wasn't as internet savvy as most of my generation. I always preferred books over computers, call me old fashioned, most did. Tina and Billy get on my case about it occasionally, if they're not ripping each other's throats out. Jamie also despaired, but I think he was starting to accept that I just really like books. 

Jack had lost interest in my music, so as the song changed to 'Go the Distance' he floated up to have a look at the shelf above my desk. He very quickly found a small, fragile, frost covered box near the end of the shelf. 

"What's in there?" He asked, reaching for it. 

"Don't touch that!" I cried, a little louder than I intended. Jack backpedalled in the  
air, away from the shelf in surprise. 

"Wow, sorry. I-I didn't mean..." 

"No, it's okay." 

I walked over and carefully pulled the box down as Jack landed. "It was the last thing my brother gave me. I'm a little protective." 

"Oh, sorry." 

Jack still looked curious, and I decided to relent, not many people knew about this  
anyway. 

Wordlessly I opened the box and turned it around so that the contents faced Jack. 

"Please don't touch it." I said as he leaned closer to look. 

"I won't. I promise." 

I knew he was seeing. He was looking at a paper and string necklace Danny gave me when I hit seven. He'd painstakingly (and messily) painted and strung paper beads on the string. The beads were mostly navy and royal blue, and he'd made a snowflake pendant out of paper, which he'd left plain. 

The whole thing was covered in frost from when I held it after my brother died. I had cried, a lot, and the frost went a bit crazy. 

"It's cute." Said Jack. "How old was he when he made it?" 

"Four." 

"Pretty good for four." 

"He must have worked on it for ages. I never asked..." My voice trailed off and I shut  
the box as 'Zero to Hero' came on. I hadn't gotten worked up about this in a while, so I was glad for the sudden upbeat song. 

"Anyway." I said, putting the box back. "Anything else you want to look at?" 

Jack went back over to my bookshelf and seemed to land on particular book. "Can I read this?" 

I went over and looked at what he'd picked up. It was one of my older books; 'Midnight for Charlie Bone'. 

"That's a good one, but remember what I said." 

"I know I know. I won't leave the room with it." 

True to his word Jack jumped on top of his staff, crouched on it and started reading. 

"Don't you want a seat?" I asked. I knew he found the position comfortable, but it was still odd to see him read like that. 

"No thanks. I'm good." 

"If you're sure..." 

I selected my own book, one of the Harry Potter books, and settled in my desk chair. I curled my feet up underneath me and I heard Jack stifle a laugh. 

"What?" 

"You think I'm uncomfortable sitting like this, but you'll get pins and needles!" 

"As you say, I find it comfortable." 

Jack grinned and shook his head, getting back to his book. 

I don't quite know how long we sat there. I'd picked one of the first three Harry Potter books, so Jack and I were done at about the same time. However, Jack liked Charlie Bone so much he immediately ran to get the next in the series, and there are eight books in that series. 

We didn't stop the music, I personally like having music playing when I read, and Jack didn't seem to mind. 

I looked at my alarm clock and almost panicked when I realised it was about one in the morning. 

"Ah! I gotta go to bed!" 

"Huh?" Jack looked up from his book and looked at my clock. "It's not that late." 

"There's a Branch meeting in the morning and I have to be up for it." I said, gathering up my pyjamas. I came to sudden stop when I realised that Jack was still in the room. We may be related, but I was not getting changed in front of him. 

"I'll, just be in the bathroom." 

"Huh?" Went Jack, but I was already gone. 

I came back about ten minutes later, teeth cleaned to Toothiana's standard, hopefully. 

Jack looked up from his book as I came back in, still crouched on top of his staff, perfectly balanced. 

"Nice pyjamas." 

I think he was just being polite. My pyjamas were royal blue (I really like blue okay) button ups with white dots. Probably not what he was used to, hanging out with Jamie and Sophie. 

"Thanks." I said, trying not to yawn. 

"So, you're going to bed?" 

"No, I got my pyjamas on and brushed my teeth for the heck of it." 

Jack chuckled. "Okay, I was asking for that." He then looked a little nervously between me, the book and the book shelf. 

"You can keep reading, as long as you don't take it out of this room." 

"Won't you want the light off?" 

"I'm okay with it on." Actually having the light on seemed to make the nightmares less frequent, not that I would ever admit that. 

"Alright." Jack seemed unfazed. "Night then, I guess." 

"Night." I murmured, crawling into bed, just remembering to take off my glasses before disappearing into the land of Nod.

**For anyone curious, here is a, sort of, link to 'A Hundred Reasons' /watch?v=cOyELw4Qix4**


	15. Jackie's Room Part Two

A cool, calm night in Burgess.

Jack Frost sat on the side of a building, one leg swinging as he surveyed the town.  
There'd been no activity from Pitch or his Descendants for over a year, so Jack felt relaxed, sure that nothing was going to happen. 

A large yawn took him by surprise, his jaw popping from the sheer size. Okay, he really was relaxed. 

As a spirit he didn't need to sleep, but it didn't mean he couldn't. He usually did it regain energy or just to relax. 

However, he couldn't sleep just yet, there was something he needed to check. He'd already visited Jamie, and he was asleep, and now that it was around midnight he could bet another friend of his was asleep. 

He didn't do this often, just in case she did wake up and saw him, she'd probably kill him if she knew he checked up on her like this. 

He stood up and jumped into the Wind, letting it carry him to a house near the top of the hill. 

He landed on a windowsill that looked down the hill, towards the lake. The room the window led to was of average size and rectangular in shape, with the bed directly underneath the window. 

Jack's toes curled on the sill as he looked at the sleeping face on Jackie, his Descendant. 

The other Guardians didn't really approve of the friendship they had, and he had a feeling the HOG didn't approve either, but neither groups stopped them practicing together. 

He knew he didn't have to be here, Jackie could handle herself easily. He was very impressed with how quickly she was progressing. However, he couldn't help but feel a bit protective, maybe because he saw a bit of himself in here. 

They'd both lost family, they'd both been lonely until they'd been found by people willing to take them in. Jackie was more serious though, calmer and a little more bitter.  
Slowly, very slowly he was getting her to lighten up, she wasn't the scared, lonely kid anymore. 

He saw Jackie stir in her sleep and tensed, ready to fly off if she woke up. 

Instead he leaned forward as she stopped moving, and got a better look at her face. It was twisted with fear and her mouth was moving, mumbling in her sleep. There was no Nightmare Sand, but it was obvious she was obvious Jackie was having a nightmare. 

Jack crouched on the ledge, unsure what to do. Jackie would probably kill him if he woke her up. She was surprisingly proud, and the fact that he felt he needed to intervene would make her really, really angry. 

Finally, his protective big brother instincts kicked in. Or uncle instincts perhaps, given that he was (probably) her many times Great uncle. 

He shook the random thoughts from his head and gently pushed on the window, finding it unlocked. 

He carefully jumped down onto the floor, and saw that the frost on the carpet was already spreading from the effects of the nightmare. 

He approached carefully and shook her shoulder. "Jackie, Jackie wake up." 

The teen didn't seem to register his presence, if anything the nightmare seemed to get worse. 

"Jackie!" 

"...I didn't mean..." 

Jack stopped shaking her shoulder as Jackie mumbled in her sleep. 

"...I didn't mean to. Leave me alone." 

A tear slipped out her eye and promptly froze to her cheek. 

"JACKIE WAKE UP!" Jack was starting to panic now. Why wouldn't she wake up? 

"It's just a dream!" 

Jack's hand drifted off Jackie's shoulder as he saw her face relax, maybe now she was  
waking up. 

Oh no she was waking up. She was going to kill him. 

He started to move when he felt an iron grip on his wrist. He turned to see what was going on, and was met a slightly unfocused gaze. 

"Uh, Jackie?" 

To his surprise Jackie's eyes welled up. "Don't go, please." Her voice was calm and steady, almost completely different from the request she'd just made. 

That was the last thing he expected. 

He hooked the desk chair behind him with his staff and drew it closer, sitting down in it. 

"Thanks." Jackie released Jack's wrist and relaxed slightly underneath her tiger duvet. 

"You okay?" 

"Been better." Jackie's eyes were now properly focused on him now, although he did wonder how well she could see him without her glasses. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

"...No." 

"Okay." Jack was still a little nervous, waiting for Jackie to snap and tell him to get out. 

"What's up with you? You look nervous." 

"Well, um." Jack shifted in the chair. "I'm in your room, and you've just had a nightmare." 

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "I'm swallowing my pride." She admitted, "But I will kill you if you mention this to anyone." 

"Gotcha." 

Jack leaned back in the chair and just looked at Jackie. Now that she was going back to sleep she looked more at peace than she had been in a while. Even when she was kid. 

Yeah, Jack had seen her as a kid, often tried to get the quiet girl to join in with the snowball fights, but failed every time. It had frustrated him more than he liked to admit, and just like any other kid at the time, she couldn't see him. 

When he found out about Descendants he wondered if that was why his snowballs never worked. As his Descendant maybe she was resistant to it. Or was it because she had been mourning her brother? 

Jack had never seen the incident, and had never asked since the night they met. He didn't want to drag up any memories. 

"...Jack?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Thanks." Jackie mumbled, sleep clearly overtaking her. 

"What for?" 

"Not leaving." 

This was so sappy Jack thought that he might have been dreaming. There was no way Jackie would something like that in a normal state of mind. 

"You're welcome." Jack said once he got over the shock, but he could see that Jackie was already asleep. 

He tapped his staff on the floor, unsure what to do now. He should just let her sleep, but what if she had another nightmare? What if she woke up and found that he'd disappeared when she had asked him to stay there. 

The odd request was enough to make him stay put. 

He spun in the chair out of boredom, then sprung out of it to look around. He'd been in here once before and didn't get a proper look, having had Jackie's eagle eyes on him the whole time. 

He floated up to see the shelves above her desk, seeing some droopy looking soft toys. He had to smile, Jackie had been a kid at one point after all! There were some teddy bears and a polar bear among them. Moving along the shelf was like looking at a timeline, first were the cuddly toys, then a few short books; Mr Majeika, Magic Key, those kind of books. 

Next were clear plastic and later down the line glass animal figures. 

Jack stifled a laugh; he never had Jackie down as a figurine collector! 

Right at the end of the shelf was a small cardboard box, and Jack didn't have a look in there. He knew what was in there, and he didn't need to see it again. It had been the second time he'd seen Jackie so close to tears. 

He landed and had a flick through Jackie's school books. This was something Jack could not understand, most people hated school and homework, while Jackie seemed to love it. According to Jamie Jackie often finished homework early and asked for more! 

Jack wasn't sure whether that was true or not, but he wouldn't put it past her. 

Jack frowned as at the bottom of the pile of work and text books, was a collection of sketchbooks. Along with a set of drawing pencils and colouring pencils. Just having a look at the length he could see that they were used often. 

Finally he couldn't contain his curiosity and he opened up some of them and had a good look. 

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he was blown away by what he saw. Detailed drawings and sketches of landscapes, people and animals. Spiralling towers from imagined cities and great dragons also adorned the pages. 

Having lived for three hundred years, he'd seen in some ways better artists, but for seventeen these were really good. She could go far with skill like this. 

He kept on flicking through until he came across that took him by surprise. 

It was far back in the book, so a fairly recent drawing, and it showed Jack and Jamie having a snowball fight. 

It was simple sketch, and there was no title, but Jack felt an odd little feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite place. Jackie, someone who tended to be quite cold and apparently not all that sentimental, had a drawing of him and Jamie. 

He doubted that this was drawn while it was happening, he'd never seen Jackie draw, so it must have been from memory. 

He turned around to look at the now sleeping Jackie, and smiled. She was looked so innocent when she was asleep. 

"Still full of surprises." He muttered, putting the sketchbooks back carefully where he'd found them. 

He swung his staff over his shoulder and floated up to look at the photos on the pin board. It hadn't yet been taken over by the frost, but it was starting to lose the fight around the edges. 

There was a family photo, probably on holiday somewhere cold in the summer. It was clearly when Jackie was still the bitter loner, but she did manage to put on a smile for the photo. The photo itself was a sign of her powers, there was snow everywhere and her parents were bundled up, meanwhile Jackie was in her usual jeans and raincoat, not even wearing a pair of gloves. 

Jack shook his head and chuckled to himself, looking at the sleeping Jackie. "You were a wreck back then." 

Shaking his head again he turned back to the pin board. 

There was a photo of a gap toothed kid Jackie, probably not long before Daniel's death, sitting in front of a birthday cake. Jackie couldn't handle fire, or the heat of summer, and this photo showed how she managed to deal with it. 

The smiling Jackie was wrapped in a blanket that was coated in frost, and the candles weren't real, they were made of icing. 

"Tooth would kill you, but that's clever." Jack chuckled. 

The third and final photo was of the entire Burgess Branch, standing in what looked like a snowy Central Park. 

All of the members that weren't Jackie were well dressed for the weather; woolly hats, thick gloves, ear muffs, gloves, everything. Meanwhile Jackie was in a slightly too big pale blue hoodie and jeans. 

The Australian one, Billy, was right in the middle, with the blonde woman and the dark haired woman on one side, and Nigel and Jackie on the other. The blonde woman and Jackie were on the outside and everyone was wearing smiles. Jackie's was probably the most unsure as her eyes had drifted over to Billy, probably wondering what he was doing. 

Finally, out of sheer curiosity, he dropped down beside Jackie's bed and had a look through her glasses. 

"What the-? How does she see through these? She must be practically blind!" 

Now having looked at all the things he hadn't looked at before, he decided to go back to the series he'd been reading when he was last here. 

Jack ran over to the bookcase and plucked out the fourth book in the series. He perched on top of his staff and began reading. 

After a while Jack remembered how tired he'd been and even his eyes began to blur. 

Jack found a bookmark in the back of the book and marked his place, yawning. He placed it on the desk and looked at the window, wondering whether or not he could be bothered to jump out of it. Then he remembered what Jackie asked him. 

He scanned the room for somewhere vaguely comfy to sleep, excluding the bed. That would just be weird. 

He ended up settling on the desk chair, and with his arms and legs curled around his staff like a teddy bear, he fell asleep. 

Several hours later, well after dawn, Jackie drifted awake. 

It was about ten minutes before her alarm was due to go off, so she didn't have to get out of bed just yet. 

Her drowsy eyes wandered around the room, before landing on the blurry figure of a sleeping Jack Frost. Sleeping in her desk chair no less. 

At first Jackie was confused, and a little annoyed. When did he get here? Why he was in her room without asking her first? 

Then it came back to her. The nightmare, Jack waking her up, Jackie asking him to stay. 

Jackie burrowed back under the covers in embarrassment. What had she been thinking? She'd been adamant that her nightmares weren't an issue, and there she had been, asking Jack Frost not to go because he had chased the nightmare away. 

_If he mentions this to anyone I will kill him._

**Jackie: ... HOLLY!**

**Uh oh, gotta run guys. It seems I have an enraged ice moved on my tail. One more one shot to go- AAAAHHHHH!**

**Jackie: How did you even find out about that?! Get back here!**

**Me: Help! I don't think my sand's going to be enough for this!**


	16. The Subject of Normality

**Okay, I think I'm safe. Jackie seems to have given up for now, although I wonder how long that will last once this one is up.**

**This will be the last one shot between the first and second arc though, so that means 'Howling Shadows' starts tomorrow! Hope to see you there!**

**And for reference, since I know this one shot starts a little ambiguously, this is from Nigel's point of view.**

The older man watched as the other members of the group sparred each other. None of them were using weapons, this was completely hand to hand, no weapons and no powers.

It takes many years to perfect something like this, but Billy and Nigel had both agreed that at least some idea in this was important.

It is more tiring than using powers, for those who had them such as Jackie and Sally, but for Tina and Billy it was slightly easier.

Nigel's gaze focused on the youngest member of group and frowned. Something was wrong.

Physically Jackie was fine, and working hard, but she almost working _too_ hard. She was sparring against Billy, and was managing to push the hyperactive fighter harder than ever.

That wasn't easy to. Billy came from one of the few lines where all of them were aware of their heritage, and as a result all of them are trained to fight once they could walk. Jackie being able to put Billy through his paces wasn't impossible, but very impressive.

Nigel wasn't one to pry; if someone wanted to talk to him about a problem, he let them come to him, but this time he felt that he couldn't let this one slide. If she kept this up then she'll either hurt herself or someone else.

"Okay, that's enough for today!" Nigel called and everyone came to stop, doubled over and panting heavily.

"Get some water and stretch off, then we'll call it a day."

Nigel watched Jackie as she went to get some water, frowning the plastic began to freeze.

She was seventeen now, and her powers were under control better than ever, something must be bothering her.

The fact that it was summer probably had little to do with it, they'd had Jackie's birthday celebration the week before, and she'd seemed happy enough then.

Nigel was a sharp individual, not much made it past him, and he knew full well the issues that had plagued Jackie in the past. Her brother, lack of control, Penelope, bullying. He also recognised that Jackie sometimes acted older than she was, she'd been opening up, acting more her age, and in many cases younger, but there times where her pain showed.

She was afraid, afraid of truly letting them in, and Nigel didn't blame her. They'd blown into her life during a low point of her life, and hadn't really helped, almost succeeding in driving her away for good. Yes they'd been through thick and thin for each other, but there was another point. Jackie had no experience with having friends, so even now she had no idea how to act.

Nigel doubted the large age gap helped either. The closest to Jackie in age was Billy, and that was a good eleven years age difference.

Jackie was a loner, and Nigel respected that, but sometimes the girl needed a bit of prompting.

As the others were just leaving Nigel approached the teen.

"Jackie?"

"Hmmm?" Jackie pushed the cap of her sports bottle down.

"Is something the matter?"

"Nope, everything's fine. Why do you ask?"

"You were working Billy pretty hard today, I get the feeling he hasn't been worked like that for a while."

Jackie gave a quick grin.

"So, were you just feeling on fire today, pun not intended." He added quickly, "Or has something been bothering you?"

"No, everything's fine." Jackie said calmly.

"Okay, but if you find that it isn't, you can always pop over to mine for a chat."

"I'll bear that in mind, thanks."

Jackie pulled her hoodie over her head and put the water bottle in the pocket, before turning to the door. She let out a sigh and walked towards it, and Nigel understood why. It was a warm 20 degrees Celsius, which was scorching temperatures for Jackie, she wore the hoodie to hide the cooling layer of frost she put up.

"Want a lift?"

Jackie's face visibly lit up at the prospect of sitting in a cool car instead walking home in the heat.

"Are sure that's okay?"

"Of course! I wouldn't offer if it wasn't."

"Makes sense."

The pair went out of the maze of corridors and into the sun, where Jackie practically flinched at the heat.

"I hate to see what you're like in a heatwave."

"You wouldn't see me, at all." Replied Jackie grumpily. "I'd be hiding in my room with the curtains closed, sitting in a bunch of ice cubes."

Nigel chuckled, "I can picture it now."

"I've done it before."

"Really?"

One look at Jackie's face told him he'd just had a very mild prank played.

"I wish! Parents won't let me, and on a hot day the last thing I want to do is form a massive thing of ice."

Jackie got in the front seat of Nigel's little car while Nigel got into the driver's seat.

"Ever thought about learning to drive?" Asked Nigel as they pulled out into the road.

"No, I prefer using ice, not restricted by roads and kills fewer people."

"And is better for the environment." Commented Nigel, seeing Jackie's point.

"And is free, no purchase or insurance necessary."

Nigel let out a laugh as the air con blasted out cold. Nigel was very quickly shivering from the sudden lowering temperature, but Jackie practically lay back on the seat and basked in it.

Almost as if she could sense him shivering Jackie suddenly looked concerned.

"You don't have to have it that low if it you don't want to."

"I'm just fine Jackie, it's easier for me to put up with this than for you to put up with the heat."

"...Thank you."

"You're welcome." Nigel recognised the slight resistance to say it, Jackie still had her pride.

The sat in silence as the car powered along, going up the hill to Jackie's home.

"How's training going with Jack?"

"Going well, working on psychic ice a lot, although he doesn't use it himself, prefers his staff."

"Interesting. Are he and Jamie still friends?"

Jackie's face frowned for a moment at the mention of Jamie, but it quickly passed.

"Every now and again. I think Jack still knocks on Jamie's window rather than Jamie going to the lake."

Nigel hadn't missed the look that Jackie had for a moment, but decided not to press.

"...What would your definition of normal be?"

"Normal?" Nigel thought for a moment.

"Personally, I don't believe that normality exists."

"Huh?"

"Sure there's the biological normal, but if you're talking personalities, then there's no such thing as normal, because everyone is different."

"Hmmm." Jackie leaned back in the car seat. "I've never thought of it like that."

Nigel chuckled. "See, I may have my nose buried in gadgets, but I know a few things about people."

"I never saw you as the unsociable type."

"Oh, you should have seen me in school, stereotypical geek, big glasses, braces and all."

Jackie looked over and looked the large framed man up and down.

"I can't see it."

"I suppose I should be glad of that." Said Nigel with a smile in his voice. "Although, what brought such a question on?"

Jackie looked at her lap, fiddling with her fingers.

"Jamie asked me for advice about girls earlier today."

"Okay." That didn't surprise Nigel, it was the logical decision, Jackie was older than Jamie, so in theory had more experience with that kind of thing.

"And I couldn't give him any, I have no idea what other girls my age are like, which got me thinking, that I'm not normal..."

"Well, who would to be 'normal'?"

"What kind of a question is that?"

"Think about it, do you really want to be the same as normal girls? Gossiping in the toilets and not paying attention in lessons?"

"Well, no, they're idiots."

"Exactly, and you're not, but as I said, there is no such thing as normal."

"Yeah, but you're not the one who freezes water the instant they touch it." Jackie was sounding a bit bitter now.

"True, but what you have is special. How many kids have read or watched the X-Men and wished they had those kinds of powers?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Jackie's face.

"And if you're desperate to be normal, haven't you already found it? With HOG your powers are normal."

"I suppose."

"But in the end, as someone I used to know said, 'normal people are boring, why would you want to be normal?'"

"Hmmm."

Nigel glanced at Jackie, seeing her mixed wistful and annoyed expression.

"Ah, you're jealous, aren't you?"

"Jealous?" Jackie seemed honestly confused, and for a moment so was Nigel, he could have sworn that was the issue. Nevertheless he pressed on.

"You like Jamie."

Jackie frowned for a second, then her face went bright red when she got what he was implying.

"OH! No no no no no no, just, no! He's my friend!"

"Many romances start off as friendships."

Jackie's face went an even deeper red and sank into the seat, pulling her hood down over her face.

"I hate you."

"Sure you do." Said Nigel, grinning despite himself. It wasn't fair to Jackie, but it was a little too easy to wind her up.

Nigel pulled up outside the gate to Jackie's house.

"Thanks for the lift." Said Jackie, unbuckling the seatbelt as quickly as possible, her face still as red as a tomato.

"You're welcome. See you next week."

"See you then."

She slammed the door shut and stalked back up the path her shoulders hunched in embarrassment as Nigel drove back to his house.


	17. Descendants of North Information

**Uh oh, looks like this one got missed out in the mass upload, which is strangely ironic, because North is one of my least favourite Guardians. I don't dislike him, but if I had to make a favourites list, I'm afraid North won't be very high.**

**Also, while I'm at it, a big thanks to PixanaWillow for following and favouriting!**

Signature colour-red

Signature weapon-sword

Symbol-long sword

The Descendants of North are the hardest to identify as their abilities are more subtle.

All of them have a great mind for inventing and building, and due to their ancestor being taught by Ombric, a magician from Atlantis, they also have a connection to magic. The strength of the connection varies from Descendant to Descendant, some to the point where they could be considered magicians in their own right. This is extremely rare however, having had less than a handful recorded. HOG has spell books in their collection to help the Descendants of North reach their full potential with their magic. These books are written in Altantian however, and Descendants of North are expected to learn it in order to learn any kind of magic.

A lot have careers as inventors, blacksmiths, engineers, carpenters any profession that involves tinkering or building. This includes computers after their rise in popularity, so there are few computer builders, programmers and even hackers among the Descendants of North.

All have a talent in swordplay and some are excellent with horses.

All have dark hair when they are young, but it goes white as they get older. Most also have blue eyes, making them look similar in appearance to the Descendants of Jack Frost when they are young.

It is unknown where North's line came from, as he wasn't raised by his biological family, so finding them to found the Human Order of Guardians wasn't the easiest thing in the world. It was helped by North having a Russian accent, so they began their search in that part of the world.

They have no geographic preference.


	18. Christmas Eve

**Time to get on the Christmas cheer bandwagon!**

**A thanks to AriArlene and Good fan for following and favouriting.**

**And to anyone reading, A Merry Christmas to you, whether or not you celebrate it. My sentiment is the same.**

I shot up from my sleep, scream dying in my throat as I scanned my surroundings. I was in my bedroom, not underground, I wasn't going to die.

I groaned and put my head in my hands, the images from _that_ night ran through my head like a silent film.

Well, most of it. I still couldn't remember what happened after I started to lose control, and I was happy for it stay that way.

_Calm. Breathe. You're safe. Everyone is safe._ I recited in my head, the Descendant of Toothiana I'd been seeing for nearly a year now had given me some phrases to remember to try and calm me down after a nightmare. So far those were the ones that worked the best.

As I let the phrase repeat itself there was a sudden soft thump from the roof.

My nerves were shot so I jumped out of my skin, my eyes shooting to the ceiling above me. Who the hell was on the roof?

My mind jumped to horrific scenarios. Maybe the Descendants of Pitch had thawed out, what if I hadn't got all of them?

I jumped out of my bed, blades forming as I went to the window. I opened it as the thumping stopped, and felt a chill in my blood as there was a new noise. From downstairs!

I left the window open as I went as quickly and as quietly as I could downstairs, passing my new hoodie which was hanging on the door. That did give my mind a bit of nudge, that maybe I'd overlooked something, but I ignored it as I crept downstairs.

I moved to the living room, where the sounds seemed to be coming from. Oddly it didn't sound like people coming to attack, just one guy, moving around.

I peeked around the door and saw North's back to me as he put some presents under the Christmas tree.

I stood there, confused for a second, then my stupidity hit me with force of a train. It was Christmas Eve! How did I forget? I got a present from Jack earlier that day and gave him one, I had been really nervous about it!

Wow, amazing how a nightmare could make you lose track of what day it was.

I made to move away from the door when something occurred to me. I was fifteen, and the youngest in the house. While I wasn't an adult I certainly wasn't a child, so what was North doing here?

I leaned back around the door, and North wasn't there anymore.

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes tiredly. Of course he wouldn't hang around, he had a very busy night ahead of him.

Making a note to bring it up with Jack next time I saw him I yawned and went back to bed. The chances of me getting two nightmares twice in the same night were small once I'd distracted myself, so I should be fine.

"Jackie! Wake up!"

I groaned and rolled over in my bed, I'd just had a good dream for once, and the knocking on the door had almost completely ruined it.

"Five minutes." I mumbled.

"No, now. You're aunt and uncle are coming over later, and I want to some nice family time before my sister comes in to spoil it."

Yeah, it was no secret my mom didn't like her sister. I assume it goes back quite some time, and while I find my aunt aloof and a little rude at times, I didn't not like her.

However, I knew better than to antagonise my mom about it. Or let my aunt see me in my pyjamas. It made my ears ring remembering the one time she had seen me come down in my pyjamas.

"Okay, I'm coming." I said, rolling out of bed.

Ten minutes later I was dressed and in the living room, opening presents with my parents.

There were a few more presents under the tree than this time yesterday morning, and I let myself smile at that. I hadn't imagined last night then.

I opened the presents from my parents, and I got a few new books that I'd asked for. After going through the hugs and thank you's I moved onto the other presents, feeling the old, child like Christmas glee bubble up in my stomach.

The first one was rectangular shaped, and way too big to be a book. As I unwrapped it a photo frame was revealed. It was pale blue and decorated with silver, painted snowflakes around the border.

I smiled and put it to one side as I moved on to the next one, which was also the last one for me.

It was also rectangular, but definitely not a book, it was too small. Underneath the wrapping paper was a small, navy blue box, which opened like a jewellery box. And inside that was a snowflake made of ice, about the size of my palm, nestled in white cotton wool.

I carefully pulled it out, looking at it from all angles. It was delicately done, clearly by someone who had practice. There was a small loop of silver from the top of one of the branches, and I frowned as I looked at it, was it supposed to hang on a Christmas tree.

I carefully placed the snowflake back in the box and started to tidy the wrapping paper away, when an envelope I hadn't noticed before fell out. Frowning with confusion I set the wrapping paper down and picked up the envelope.

The envelope seemed to be made of heavy parchment, and in clear cursive on the front, was my name.

I flipped it over and carefully opened it, pulling out the lighter parchment paper within it.

"Jackie" It read

"This probably comes as a surprise to you. You are not a child and yet I have left you gifts!

There are several reasons. I think Jack has gotten a little protective you, an odd notion for an immortal to their Descendant. He's made it very clear that you are on the Nice list after your actions in the past year.

The other, is that this is a form of apology. An apology from the Guardians to a child they should have helped, Descendant or not. Your light went out too soon, and while we cannot change past, we can apologise for not trying to reignite it.

Have a Merry Christmas my friend.

Nicolas St North

P.S.

If you are curious, I made the snowflake, Jack made sure it wouldn't melt."

I wasn't quite sure what I felt on reading that. Yeah, it was a nice gesture, and he didn't have to do that. It was still a little odd.

"Thanks North." I muttered, putting the letter on top of the photo frame. I took the snowflake carefully from its box and hung it on the tree, the lights blinking and refracting their light through it.

**Hello another story where I can't tell if it's heart warming, weird or cheesy. I have a genuine hard time telling the difference between them.**

**For reference, this takes place in the same year as 'Hoodie'**


	19. Engagement and Proposal Traditions

**This more or less occurred to me while I was away, some of the Descendant groups have been around for centuries, perhaps millennia in some cases. Therefore, I figured they'd have their own traditions for certain things, such as weddings/engagement. So this is a compilation of these for the main five groups you see in the main Human Order of Guardians series, I will make new chapters for others, such as the Book Guardians and any fan made spirits if anyone wants me too.**

**I also made this its own chapter because I wasn't sure whether it really fit with the general Descendant Information, although if anyone wants me to write about their spirit OC Descendants, then this information will included in that.**

**One last thing, minor spoiler ahead for the third arc. Very minor, and you'd have to read the third arc to understand it, and I haven't even started posting that on this website! Yet.**

Wedding or Engagement traditions, in order of when the Descendant group joined the Human Order of Guardians.

Descendants of Bunnymund- Present partner or fiancé with a flower, preferably one that they have produced or made from rock. If they do not possess geo or flora kinesis, then a flower is usually grown in advance.

Descendants of Toothiana- A feather is presented to the partner or fiancé, preferably the Descendant's own. This tradition is struggling in the 21st Century as few Descendants of Toothiana possess feathered wings; it is now acceptable to present any brightly coloured feather.

Descendants of Sandman- Partner or fiancé is presented with an item made of tightly packed Dream Sand. What the item is does not matter; although it is preferred that it has personal significance. The item should not disintegrate.

Descendants of North- They did not have the time to come up with such a tradition, as they were accepted into the Order almost as soon as they began to appear. So not to be left out, they came up with one. Their potential partner is to be presented with something small that they built. As with the Descendants of Sandman, almost anything will be acceptable, but preferably the item will have personal significance.

Descendants of Jack Frost-According to what are being referred to as the 'Bergland Books', it is tradition for Descendants of Frost, (at least in the Bergland family) to present their partner or fiancé with a snowflake to wear and it should not melt. This tradition is being accepted by all Descendants of Frost, because it is the only tradition they can draw upon.

Originally some of these were designed for the partner to wear all the time, but in the 21st Century HOG wishes to remain hidden, so they don't have to be worn or kept on the partner's person at all times, like a wedding ring. However it is expected that the items are kept safe for as long as the two are together.


	20. Halloween

**For reference, this takes place between Chapter 15 and Chapter 16 of Howling Shadows.**

I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to this or not.

On one hand, it would be a laugh, I hadn't dressed up for years, and I needed to get my mind out of recent events. 

On the other, Halloween often had fire in some shape or form. Either the candles in the pumpkins or in some cases open braziers. Which was not something I needed. 

I double checked my costume, smiling beneath the hooded sheet. This was great, I looked decently scary and you'd have to check underneath the hood to tell how it was, so anyone my age who wants to give me grief about dressing up would have to go out of their way to check. 

The icicles I'd formed on the edge of the sheet clattered as I walked away from the mirror. My room was covered in more frost than usual, as I'd had to lower the temperature quite a bit to get the costume stable. Once I was outside it should be okay, but I'd have to keep an eye on it, it wouldn't do have the 'plastic icicles' melt while I was walking across town. 

"Jackie! Jamie's here!" Called my mum up the stairs. I straightened up, adjusting the sheet so that it hung over my face. Of course I wasn't doing this alone. 

Most of Jamie's friends were still doing it, but the likes of the twins had given up, declaring it 'stupid'. Unfortunately those from the high school didn't see things the same way, with some of the girls dressed rather scantily. 

I collected my candy bag and went downstairs, trying not to trip over the sheet.  
Jamie was at the door with Sophie. The thirteen year old was dressed up as Jack of course, and this year his mum had finally allowed him to dye his hair white. The six year old was dressed as a fairy, because as with most six year old girls, she loved fairies. Her obverse meeting with the Tooth Fairy hadn't put her off. 

"Wow. What are you going as?" asked Jamie, looking me up and down. 

"I'm an ice wraith." I said, looking down at my ice and frost covered sheet and old fashioned clothes. "Can't you tell?" 

I shot a grin at Jamie and he grinned back. 

"It looks awesome! Come on, or all the good candy will be gone!"

"Okay okay I'm coming." I let myself be dragged out by Sophie, who was chanting "candy" repeatedly. 

"Have fun!" Called my mum, who I could tell was struggling not to laugh. Five years ago  
I'd never have let myself be dragged anywhere, let alone by a six year old! 

I sent her a look over my shoulder, before grinning and walking off to meet Pippa, Monty and Cupcake. 

The trio had similar reactions to my costume, and I guess I could see why. Pippa was dressed up as a character I guess Billy would be able to recognise, she was in a green tunic, white leggings, brown boots and a floppy green hat. The costume was completed with a foam sword and a blue shield. 

Finally Monty was in a full Spiderman costume and Cupcake was in a horse and jockey costume. 

"Let's go get some candy!" Cried Jamie, ever the enthusiast with his fist and staff in the air. 

Monty nodded, "I've already gotten the best houses highlighted on my map." 

I forgot how kids could turn a Halloween foray into an army operation. 

"Got it all organised then Colonel Spidey?" I asked, more than a hint of a joke in my voice. 

"Indeed Major Icey." 

"Major?" I asked with mock affront, "I should be a Brigadier at least!" 

"You have less experience in the world of Halloween forays." Replied Jamie with mock seriousness. "Be lucky that you're not a Private." 

"How dare you! I should be a Veteran!" I said, pulling up to my full height. 

"You admitted that you haven't gone trick or treating since you were seven." Pippa reminded me. "You're nineteen now." 

"It's only your age that's stopping you being a Private." Finished Monty and Cupcake rolled her eyes. 

"Are you seriously arguing about military ranks on Halloween?" 

Monty became flustered and pulled out a map of Burgess from his candy bag. I raised my eyebrows as he unfurled it, with a proposed route in red. 

"You've put a lot of thought into this." I commented, no hint of a joke this time. 

"Of course! Getting candy is serious business!" 

Jamie finished scanning the map and walked ahead down the route. 

"Alright troops. This way! Forward March!" Jamie cried, using the staff like a baton. 

"Aye sir!" went Monty, Pippa and Sophie enthusiastically. Cupcake rolled her eyes but said the words anyway. 

I smiled underneath my hood and followed after them, doing my adult duty to keep an eye on them. 

The proposal of free candy didn't hurt either. 

I have to hand to it him, Monty knew how to plan. 

Within half an hour we'd made it through most of the houses on his list via his route.  
The house owners had done double takes when they saw me with the kids, and the gossip mongerer, otherwise known as Jamie's grandmother, Mrs Pierce practically lit up when she saw me with Jamie. She even gave us extra candy, and I dread to think why. 

"So, how many more have we got Colonel Spidey?" 

"Around three Captain Icey." 

Oh yes, I'd also been downgraded to Captain after I'd tripped over my sheet. Such behaviour was not befitting of a Major apparently. 

"Then what are we waiting for!" Cried Jamie, his staff above his head. "Charge!" 

"With all due respect, we may freak them out if you charge. We may rob ourselves of potential candy." 

Jamie gave me a pointed look and I reluctantly added. "Sir." 

I got enough of that with HOG. I guess I should be glad that he wasn't getting me to  
salute. 

Jamie looked me up and down. "Sound advice, promoted." 

"Yes." I gave a quick fist pump before going back to normal standing position. 

"Will you lot stop that?!" Cried Cupcake, coming to a halt and folding her arms. 

Pippa, Monty, Jamie and I looked at each other and said at roughly the same time.  
"Demoted." 

"To Private!" chipped in Sophie, who was very keen to have someone ranked below her. 

"Hold on, Cupcake can't be Private." Said Monty. 

"Why?" asked Jamie, staff over his back in a very Jack-like manner. 

"She's in the Cavalry." 

"THAT'S IT!" 

Cupcake charged towards us and we scattered, laughing. Cupcake may have a rough attitude, but she'd never actually go after anyone of us. I think she was worried that me or Jack would ice her or something. 

We ended up making our way towards the next house while being chased by an irate Cupcake, but her yells quickly turned into laughs as the chase went on. 

Then the house came into view. 

It was very well decorated, Jack O'Lanterns plastered through the windows and the gate was decorated to look like the entrance to a wizard's lair. It was ajar, so presumably the kids would go in, take the candy and leave. 

Except the sides of the gate were decorated with real flaming braziers. 

I stopped halfway up, my heart rate went up and my breathing began to quicken. 

I knew I shouldn't be freaking out. They couldn't hurt me and I couldn't even feel the heat from here, but that didn't seem to register in my mind. 

Jamie realised that I'd stopped and also stopped, looking back at me. 

"Jackie?" 

His voice seemed to come from the far end of a tunnel. 

"Y-yeah?" My voice didn't sound much better, almost echoey. 

The others stopped as well, having realised that something was up. 

"What's up Major?" Asked Monty, trying to get me to respond. 

"Y-you guys g-go ahead. I-I'll j-just b-b-be d-down h-here." I said, backing down the hill. 

"Jackie? What's wrong?" Jamie started coming down towards me, and I backed off slightly. 

"I-I'll j-just b-be o-over t-t-there." I was starting to hear crackling and frost was starting to spread across my hands. That hadn't happened since... 

Since the flamethrowers. 

That admission was what sent the ball rolling down the hill, and I went with it.

I think I ran, I wasn't sure. 

One minute I was in the hill, and after a few flame filled minutes I was by the lake. 

I calmed down a bit and sat by the shore, breathing heavily. The lake was already starting to freeze, and my freaked presence lowered the temperature to the point where more ice was starting to form on the lake. 

"Come on Davies. Get a grip." I said to myself, putting my head in my hands. I could feel  
the coarse hair of my wig underneath my frosted knuckles and the ends of the fake hair also frosted. 

I was only then I realised I was shaking, and I just couldn't believe it. Every Descendant of Frost is wary, if not afraid of fire. Of course we are, we're more sensitive to heat than most, and not much gets hotter than fire. 

So why had the flamethrowers affected me like this? It's not as if it's the first time I've come across fire. 

_It almost killed you._ That was the answer. 

Alfred had said it, those Descendants of Pitch hadn't been trying to capture me, they were actively trying to kill me in the safest way they could think of. That's what it was, unlike any other time I'd come across fire, I'd almost died. 

Not too subtle footsteps sent me up to my feet, my blades itching to form. It could be anyone out here. Some kid who's gotten lost, someone going for an evening stroll, anything. 

"Jackie!" 

Or a concerned thirteen year old friend. 

"Where are you? What happened back there?" 

I wasn't sure if I could tell him. He knew I had issues after what happened four years ago and he probably thought I was barking mad, this wouldn't help. 

But he was my friend, he would be worried, right? 

Obviously he was worried, he was out in the woods looking for me for God's sake! 

Before I could call out to him to let him know where I was, Jamie appeared almost directly in front of me. 

His face lit up with relief. "Jackie!" 

"Hey." 

"What was that about earlier?" He asked, coming in closer. 

"I..." I couldn't say it. I wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or the fact I just didn't want to say it out loud. 

"Jackie?" 

I looked down and saw that my legs were still shaking. At that point they decided to collapse and I went to the ground, landing with a heavy crunch. 

"Jackie!" 

"...I'm fine." 

"No you're not!" Jamie crouched down beside me. 

"What happened back there?" 

I looked down at my feet, not sure if I could say it. 

"You know it helps if you talk about it." 

"...Goddamn it Brigadier." 

Jamie laughed and sat down in the snow. 

"Aren't you going to get cold?" I asked, looking down at the patch of snow he was sitting on. 

"I hang around with you and Jack. I've gotten used to it." He replied, "and you're changing the subject." 

"You're Detective Inspector, not Brigadier." 

"Jackie..." 

I sighed and pulled off my sheet to get some air, brushing the wig hair out of my face. 

"I never told you what happened when I disappeared, did I?" 

Jamie shook his head. "No, you didn't." 

I looked at the lake, where the ice was halting. 

"I got tracked by the Descendants of Pitch until Canada. The first time I came across them it was three of them in a petrol station. I took them out and went on my way." 

"What about the next time?" Jamie prompted, clearly seeing that I was reluctant to continue. 

"I was bedding down for the day. I was travelling at night, when I noticed something." I frowned, trying to remember. 

"I'm not even sure what it was, but it freaked me out, so I packed up again to move, when I discovered that I was surrounded." 

I shook my head, wanting to dislodge the images that were all too fresh in my mind. 

"There were too many to count, and they had Nightmares. I couldn't fight them, so all I could hope to do was to hold them off and get out of there. I managed to pin them with ice and made to leave, when..." 

I didn't want to say it, but Jamie was there, waiting for me to tell him. He didn't say anything, he didn't have to. 

"Four of them appeared, two in front of me, two behind me. They had... They had..." 

"What?" I had a feeling he could guess, but he let me continue. 

"Flamethrowers." 

Jamie sucked in air through his nose, I don't think that was what he expected. 

"And they set them off?" 

I nodded and my hands began to shake. 

"It was so hot, it hurt so much..." 

I was crying, I could feel the liquid going down my face and my throat burning. The tears quickly froze to my cheeks. 

I bought my knees into my chest. 

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be freaking out. I just..." 

To my surprise Jamie didn't say anything, instead he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.  
It was a little colder than I expected, but still uncomfortably warm. I did my best not to flinch at it, for Jamie's sake. 

"It's better you got it out, otherwise we'd have another Daniel." He said after a while, and I nodded, cringing slightly at the memory. 

"I was an utter wreck that night." 

"Yeah, but you had had a rough night." 

"You were the one who got hurt!" I protested. 

"I wasn't the one who ran off into the woods." Jamie countered calmly. 

"Yeah yeah." 

We sat in companionable silence as I composed myself. I had forgotten how much just having someone there helped, I was too used to trying to deal with this alone, even now. 

"Thanks." I said after a bit. 

"No problem." 

Jamie then got to his feet, brushing the snow off his trousers. 

"Come on, the others are going to wonder where we are. They'll be at the next house." 

"Okay." I said, also getting up and pulling the sheet back over my head. 

Jamie nudged me in the ribs. "Eat some of your candy, it'll make you feel better." 

"Yes Doctor Bennett." I said a little sarcastically, which got a smile from Jamie. 

I pulled out a random bit of candy and ate it was we walked. Once I'd swallowed I said the first thing that came to mind. 

"Let's hope Toothiana doesn't find out. She'd probably kill me." 

We were laughing out of the woods, demons banished for now.


	21. Jamie's Resolve

**From here on out, unless stated otherwise, all the one shots are post Howling Shadows, so here be spoilers!**

**Here, I imagine Jamie to either be thirteen or just turned fourteen. I don't know if he has a canon birthday, in my head it's sometime in November.**

**Finally, a thank you to Caboosd for following and favouriting!**

Jab punch guard. Jab punch guard. Jab punch guard.

One of the drills that Billy started us on. We've done it before so it wasn't an issue as the sand bag shook from the force. 

Billy and Nigel decided that once the combat sessions were announced about a year after I joined HOG that we needed to know how to fight without our weapons. It wasn't stuff you learnt in martial arts lessons, most of it was self defence and short combinations to get people to back off so we could get weapons. 

There were also lessons on how to use different weapons. Currently I could wield a sword, a staff and throwing knives. 

It was my first combat session since getting injured, so in theory I was taking it easily. In reality I wasn't, and sadly the top I was wearing showed off the ragged bite mark on my shoulder, so the others had a constant reminder of what happened.

Billy oversaw the whole thing as the four of us worked the sandbags that had been placed on the floor. 

"Alright, new drill. Fancy one this time." Called Billy, "Roundhouse back kick. GO!" 

I screwed my face up slightly. My shoulder wasn't hurting much, despite the ugly looking mark. My leg on the other hand still hurt enough to cause a noticeable limp. 

I did the drill, 45 roundhouse, then jumping into a back kick. The sandbag wobbled furiously and my leg flared up in pain, and I sucked air through my teeth involuntarily. Billy, who had the hearing of a rabbit, heard it. 

"Go easy Jackie! You're still recovering!" 

I grumbled under my breath. Just because my leg was a little sore didn't mean I wasn't going to work as hard as anyone else. I didn't want or need any special treatment. 

_"He's got a point; take it easy."_

I glared at the ice tiger, who was lying against the wall, watching us work. 

_Whose side are you on?_

"_You may feel fine, but your leg doesn't. Billy knows his stuff, so take it easy."_

I made a noise that sounded like a cross between a grunt and a whine. 

"_...Seriously?"_

I got back to the drill, but with Taboo growling at me from the sidelines, I took it easy. 

I sat down heavily on the park bench, looking up at the statue of the founder of Burgess. I always meant to ask Jack how accurate that was, he had told me a little about his past as a normal human, which explained why most of his Descendants had dark hair instead of white hair. He never said how became immortal, I got the idea that it was a touchy subject. 

Taboo was curled up on the inside of my hood, out of sight of prying eyes, not that there were many at this time of night. I should be wary, the Descendants of Pitch and Lupine were still active and probably weren't happy about their leaders, but I didn't care. Not now. 

I watched as Sandman's golden streams shot across the sky and smiled. I was out late tonight. 

I waved at the gold cloud as it passed, I don't know if Sandman saw me, but I wasn't too bothered. 

A stream danced right in front of me and I couldn't help but grin. He had seen me. 

I ran my fingers through the silky smooth, slightly sticky sand and it burst into an image. A cat appeared in the sand and started playing a ball of yarn, chasing the end around my head. 

I had to let out a laugh at such a cute image. I levered myself to stand up and wiggled my fingers in front of the sand cats face, which it started trying to bat. 

I spun in a slow circle and the kitten followed my fingers, crouching and pouncing at them, falling just short each time. I went slightly faster and the kitten was now chasing my fingers. 

Very quickly the cloud moved on and the kitten faded, leaving me panting slightly in the middle of a park at night. 

"_You've found a replacement for me."_ Said Taboo, not being completely serious. 

_I could never replace you!_

"_Glad to hear it."_

I reached round and put my fingers in my hood, which Taboo nuzzled a little sleepily. We'd known each other for a month, and already we were close. 

"Should probably go home now." I said quietly, mostly to Taboo, but not so people thought I was crazy. 

My route home took me past Jamie's house, and now Jamie was outside it. He was sitting on his porch, scanning the road with a torch. 

I frowned in confusion as I approached and was about to call to him when he stood up and ran to the gate. 

I stopped by it and put my hands in my pockets. "What are you up to?" 

"I was... waiting for you, actually." Jamie seemed oddly nervous. 

"Oh, what for?" 

"I wanted to ask you something." 

I nodded, indicating for him to continue. 

"I... I want to train with you. With your Branch." 

I felt my fall open a little in confusion. "I... Why? If you want to learn to fight there's martial arts clubs." 

"Yeah, I know. But you guys actually learn how to fight, so you don't get killed." 

"You didn't answer my question, why do you want to do this?" 

"Well, after the whole thing with Lupine-," I flinched, but Jamie continued regardless, "and I want to make sure it doesn't happen again." 

"It probably won't." 

"But what if it does? You almost got really badly hurt last time, I don't want that to happen again." 

"It won't." 

"You don't know that! I'm not a kid anymore Jackie, and I want to help!" 

"No. You are not getting involved. This is dangerous, I thought you knew that!" 

"I do, but I don't want to be in that kind of situation again without being able to defend myself." 

"Again, there's martial arts classes for that. Why us?" 

"Because you do real stuff, you've actually been in a life or death fight." 

"Jamie, listen. You're not even supposed to know we exist, the only reason you do is because you know about the Guardians. Letting you come along is you getting more involved, and rule one is not getting non Descendants involved." 

"Jackie-," 

"No! I'm sorry Jamie but it's not an option." 

Jamie then unleashed his secret weapon. The puppy-dog look. A look that could sink ships. 

I felt my resolve weaken, but I managed to turn away. 

"The answer's no Jamie. I'm sorry. Night." 

I underestimated how persistent Jamie could be. 

Over the next week every time I saw him he'd bring up learning to fight with my Branch, and each time I told him no. He still kept pestering me though. He was going to drive me insane at this rate! 

It was relief when the meeting day finally came around. There was no way Jamie was going to be able to follow me, not with Taboo keeping a nose out. 

The meeting started off as normal, we sat down and gave quick reports on how everything was fine, nothing out of the ordinary was happening. There had been no reports of wolves or Descendants of Pitch, so for now we could relax. 

We took a quick break before getting equipment out for combat training. I helped Nigel drag out the sandbags while Tina and Sally set up targets for projectiles. Even after four years it was still odd seeing Tina do this. Tina was quite concerned about her appearance, not to the extent of some, but she would normally be very cautious about ruining her appearance. Seeing her not afraid to get into training was still odd. 

Billy had stepped out for a bit to get some air apparently, so we continued setting up and until we could hear the sound of scuffling on the corridor. 

We all looked to the door to see Billy walk in, not looking impressed while holding Jamie by the collar of his shirt. 

"He was outside." Billy explained, before looking over at me. "Anything to do with you?" 

I almost gulped, normally Billy and I were on excellent terms with each other, but Billy had had his family round this week, and he did not get along with them. Therefore, he wasn't in the mood for messing around, even Tina knew to take it easy after Billy had seen his parents. 

"I... um." I wasn't sure how to explain it, Jamie didn't know where we trained, and I didn't know how to explain why Jamie wanted to train, the others got on my case about what happened as it was. 

I looked at Taboo, who was lying by the drinks. She gave a very like human shrug of the shoulders. 

"_Must have followed us, you know how busy it is out there Jackie."_

"Jackie..." Billy was sounding really annoyed now. 

"Look, I want to train with you guys." Jamie blurted out, much to the surprise of everyone else. 

"I already told you. No!" I said, trying to make it clear that this was an issue. "Non Descendants-," 

"Yeah, I know, non Descendants don't get involved. But how is training with you getting involved?" 

Nigel, to my horror seemed to be considering Jamie. 

"Why do you want to train with us? There's a perfectly good martial arts club in Burgess." 

"You guys do real stuff." Billy had let go of Jamie by this point, "Plus after what happened with Lupine, I don't want it to happen again." 

Nigel stiffened, then sighed. "What happened then was extremely rare-." 

"I know that! But you can't say that it won't happen again, because none of you have psychic powers." He scanned all five of us. "Right?" 

"No psychic powers." Admitted Sally. 

Billy meanwhile, was looking Jamie up and down critically. 

"If the kid can keep up-." He started. 

"No! Not an option!" I interrupted 

"And why not?" Asked Billy, his brown eyes uncharacteristically serious. "I know he's your friend, but if he wants to learn to protect himself, then we're the best people to learn from." 

I looked to Nigel for support, but he just shrugged. "Billy's got more experience with this than me. It's up to him." 

"He's a boy." Said Tina in my defence. 

"Jackie wasn't much older when she started." Countered Sally, and I knew I was outnumbered. 

I practically deflated as Billy turned back to Jamie. "If you can keep up, then you can stay. Understood?" 

Jamie nodded and to my horror, saluted. "Yes sir!" 

Billy burst out laughing. "I like this guy!" 

"Let's just get going already." I said, grumbling. 

Jamie tried. 

It was clear he had a little experience with fighting, he didn't need the various kicks explaining, but the fitness was where he struggled. 

Even with my injuries I was able to keep going on the bags for about five minutes. Jamie was red faced and puffing after less than two. 

I suppose I wasn't being fair, but I was scared about how far this could escalate. Jamie had been put in mortal danger because of me, because he knew me. Training with us seemed to be taking things in the wrong direction, ideally I wanted him to forget all the dangerous stuff I'd done, but he was starting to actively embrace it. 

By the end I'd given him half of my water and he was leaning against Taboo to cool down. 

Billy and Nigel were talking as I wordlessly pulled my hoodie on, hiding the scar that had been in full view all practice. 

Finally Nigel came over to Jamie, but I was still close enough to hear them. 

"Billy was actually quite impressed." He said and I groaned mentally. This cannot be going where I think this is going. 

"And while I think the threat is minimal, I don't see the harm in training you, as long as this doesn't reach the ears of anyone else in HOG." 

"Are you kidding?" I cried. 

"I am completely serious Jackie. It's not as if I'm asking him to join HOG, but Jamie is in the rather unique position of having helped the Guardians during the Battle of Burgess. So, I think we should give him a chance." 

I glared at Nigel, but wasn't about to question his authority. In the Burgess Branch, Nigel's word was final. 

"Fine." I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out, Taboo trotting behind me. 

Jamie, who'd been quiet through the whole exchange, suddenly called after me. 

"Jackie!" 

I turned to face him from the doorway. "What?" 

"Look, I know you really don't want me to do this, but, just let me try, please?" 

I paused for a few seconds, then sighed. "Jamie, I'm not your mother, technically I can't stop you. In the Burgess Branch, Nigel's word is final." 

I levelled a glare at the younger teen, and he took a step back. 

"However." I growled. "Now you're here, you'd better put in a hundred and ten percent. This isn't a game, if we don't train properly, we might die. If you miss a session, you'd either better be out of state or dying. Clear?" 

Jamie nodded, seeing that I was technically giving the go ahead. "Clear."


	22. A Bit of Free Running

It was stupid, it was dangerous, it could mess up my leg and shoulder. And I didn't care.

Heights held no fear for me anymore; if I fell I could catch myself on some ice. Jack had managed to drill that reflex into me after all. 

Call me a little odd, but I'd watched Jack jumping across roofs like it was no big deal, and I decided that I wanted to give it a shot. I didn't have the advantage of the wind, but like I said, I didn't care. 

I'd had a few hairy moments as I sprinted across the roofs, almost falling, but I was getting better. 

I wasn't doing this in Burgess, too many people knew me. So I ran across the roofs in the next town over, Billy's town to be precise. Tanglewood. 

It was exhausting, but exhilarating. 

One roof came up, the gap too large to make in single jump, not an issue. Once my toes reached the edge of the roof I formed ice and used it to propel myself forward.

I landed quite easily and moved on. 

As I ran I could see the Mini Fairies out on their rounds, and Sandman's streams came down, hitting windows. 

I grinned and waved to him as I went. Mini Fairies who hadn't seen me before flew alongside for a second to see what I was doing, before disappearing again. 

Finally I'd run out of breath and stopped on top of a roof, laughing from the adrenaline rush. 

There was the slightly daunting fact that I'd have to make the journey back to get some sleep, and possibly have another nightmare. 

Yes, there was a secondary reason for doing this; it helped clear my head after a nightmare. I didn't have the energy to do this every time I had a nightmare, sometimes I just went for walk, but sometimes, this was just the thing. 

Sometimes I got hurt, not badly mind, just scrapes. But I found it was worth it. 

I sat down on the roof and watched the area for a bit. It was the night before Easter Sunday, and I could see the rustle of bushes as Bunnymund moved around. I wasn't going to bother him, not by a long shot. Tomorrow was _his_ day, and I wasn't going to ruin it for him. 

I looked up at the moon, my legs swinging. The moon, such a big deal in this world of spirits that I was part of. Well, half in half out technically, but still the moon was, well, the moon. Ever present, always watching. 

I pulled myself back up and looked over at the electrical cables. Once again I'd seen Jack walking across these with ease, and while I can definitely say that he was lighter than anyone I'd ever met, I was curious to see how this would go. 

Logic told me that the cables would never hold my weight, and they did sag when I put pressure on them. I frowned and pulled my leg back up, balancing perfectly, something I'd picked up from years of combat practice. I wasn't going to get much of grip with shoes, maybe I should take a leaf out of Jack's book if I was going to try this. 

I unlaced my shoes and took off my socks, leaving them balled up inside the shoes. The roof was rough underneath my feet, but I decided that I wasn't bothered. 

Now in bare feet I stepped onto the wire again. It still sagged under my weight, so I formed a layer of frost to steady it, hopefully. 

I stepped fully onto it, toes curling around the cable with my arms out stretched to balance myself. Jack had decades of practice with this, so it made sense that he made it look easier than it actually was. 

I managed to wobble along about two steps before losing my balance. 

I slid left and flailed my arms, letting out a small yell. I'm not sure how, but I managed to end up hanging upside down by my knees. 

I let out a sigh and let myself hang limp, my fingers hanging about half a metre off the pavement. Looks like tightrope walking wasn't a given if you had good balance. I had to chuckle at that thought. 

I looked back up and where I'd left my shoes and ran a tired arm across my eyes. It would be fun getting out of this. 

A Mini Fairy darted down from the roofs and flew around my head, seemingly concerned. She had a gold feather in the centre of her head, marking her as Jack's friend, Baby Tooth. 

"M'alright." I said a little tiredly. "Just don't tell Jack or he'll laugh so hard he'll drop his staff." 

Baby Tooth giggled to herself before flying off, probably heading back to the palace. 

I let another sigh and began swinging myself back and forth. Slowly I got closer and closer to the cable, my fingers brushing against it. Finally I managed to grab hold of with one hand and the other quickly followed. 

So now I was hanging from a set of power cables which was sagging dangerously from my weight. 

I dropped from it before I did any damage and looked up, going up on an ice pillar to get my shoes back. Boring I know, which wasn't the point of doing this, but I was getting tired now. 

The pillar disappeared and I pulled my shoes back on. Time to call it a night. 

Checking my watch I saw that it was 3AM, definitely time to call it a night. 

I stood up properly and stretched, glancing at the few scattered eggs that were around. Tanglewood didn't have the same Easter excitement that Burgess had, which was why Billy would help organise the Burgess Easter Egg Hunt and not the TangleWood one. Tanglewood didn't really need all that many people to organise theirs. 

Although, looking at the haul here, Burgess Easter Egg Hunt was going to be good one this year. I hadn't taken part for a few years, since there was supposed to be an age limit, but there was one egg, same place every year, that none of the kids could reach. It was high up in a tree, in the crook of some branches. 

The egg was patterned with blues and some whites, along with eight sided snowflakes. I guessed that it wasn't for Jack, even Bunnymund knew that the symbol for Jack's Descendants was an eight sided snowflake. I didn't know why it was there, but I did get a bit of joy out of coming back when the Hunt was over and collecting it. 

It wasn't Billy I know that, Billy can't draw, let alone paint an egg. I don't think he has that kind of patience. 

I shook myself out of it and went on home. Taking a slower route this time.


	23. Jamie's Growing Up

It was winter, my favourite season. I'm biased, given that my ancestor is the spirit of Winter and that the cold doesn't affect me like everyone else.

Snowy landscapes at night were the best. The moonlight reflecting gently off the snow was just gorgeous. However, again, I'm biased. 

I was leaving the meeting place after a long combat session. I was tired, but not exhausted. 

Evening had already began to fall, and I was thinking about what to have for dinner. I'd started living on my own now, still in Burgess though, I hadn't wanted to leave my Branch, or Jamie. 

I'd been feeling weird about Jamie lately. When he got his first girlfriend I started plotting freezing her solid. I don't know what happened, I didn't even know what I was feeling. I'd never even met the poor girl, and I decided that I hated her. 

When she and Jamie broke up I hated her even more, because she'd made Jamie upset. 

It came back into my mind now as I walked home, and I leaned my forehead against a nearby lamp post. Why? Why did I keep feeling like this? What was this? 

Taboo had nothing to say on the matter, just watching in amusement as I thudded my head against the lamp post. 

_"You'll lose brain cells doing that."_

I made an irritated noise in the back of my throat and lifted my forehead off the now frosted lamp post. 

_Makes no sense..._ I was now leaning my back against the lamp post, looking at the cloud filled sky. 

_"You're still on about that? If you're that worried talk to someone! I'm sure Tina and Sally would be able to help."  
_

_I can't bother them about it. I don't even know it is.  
_

_"Well maybe they will."_

We'd had the same conversation several times over the past few months. Each time it ended the same; I didn't want to talk about it because I couldn't explain it. 

_"You might want to start moving before people start thinking that you're about to  
re-enact 'Singing in the Rain'."_

I gave a small smile at the idea and pushed myself off the lamp post. I shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket and began walking towards my flat, hoping that it wasn't going to rain. 

"Excuse me. Hey!" 

I turned to see someone I really didn't want to see. Jamie's ex-girlfriend. 

She wasn't anyone from Jamie's group of friends, she was someone entirely new from his high school. She had straight red hair and shining blue eyes, she was also slim and dressed fashionably. 

_Remain impartial, remain impartial, remain impartial._ I chanted in my head as she began to speak. 

"You're one of Jamie's friends right? Jackie?" 

"Yes." 

"Hey, I'm Britt, one his friends from high school. I don't think we've met." 

"No, we haven't." _Go away go away go away._

"So, I was wondering if you knew where Jamie was. I haven't seen him." 

"Neither have I, and if you don't mind I'm running late. Bye." 

I heard her also say bye, but I'd already turned on my heel and was already walking down the street, my mood soured. Once I was out of sight I pulled up my hood and shoved my hands deep in my hoodie pockets. 

It wasn't fair to her, she seemed like a nice person. I just didn't want to be anywhere near her. 

It didn't help that Taboo was giving me suggestions on how to take her out, each one getting more and more violent. 

_Shut up._ I told her irritably, to which she laughed. 

"_Don't tell me that you wouldn't want to see that though."_

When I didn't answer Taboo just laughed again. 

"_Seriously though, talk to someone about this. Wanting to attack someone without my input is rare for you."_

I didn't respond as I entered my block and took the stairs up. I hated taking the elevator, it was an old, creaky device that sounded like it was about to fall whenever you stepped into it. 

Taboo obviously didn't smell or hear anyone nearby, so she jumped out of my hood and walked beside me as we ascended the stairs. 

"_Seriously, bottling something up has never done you any good in the past-."_

"Who are you? Jiminy Cricket?" I asked as I opened my door. 

"_Well apparently your own conscience and common sense have taken a holiday, so I might as well be!"_

I slammed the door shut harder than I intended and dropped my kit bag in the hallway.  
Taboo stalked past me and settled down in the living room in front of the sofa. 

I made my way to the kitchen to try and get something sorted for dinner, making clear that the current conversation was closed. 

The next day I was doing my shift at the bookshop. I was there most of the day and it was usually quite quiet, which gave me plenty of time to doodle while at the till. 

Annoyingly today, I just couldn't think of anything to draw, my mind just refused to stay in one place. 

I groaned and lowered my forehead onto the table. This never happened. I prided myself on how quickly I could get myself to concentrate and stay concentrated, I just couldn't understand why I couldn't do it now. 

"Jackie." 

I looked up to see Sally looking at me over the counter. Or trying, she wasn't very tall, so she was standing on her toes. 

"Hmmm?" 

"Something wrong?" 

I'd long given up trying to lie to Sally, it just didn't work. 

"Can't concentrate." 

"Not like you." 

"I know." 

I stood up straight and spun the pencil between my fingers. 

"You've been distracted for a while." 

"Really?" I frowned in confusion at the small blonde. 

"Ever since Jamie said he had a girlfriend." Sally raised her eyebrows knowingly. 

"It's not that." I muttered, my gaze on my sketch. "Dunno what it is." 

"How to you feel about Jamie's girlfriend?" 

Despite myself I felt myself tense up, and the image of her frozen solid passed through my mind. Sally just nodded, a knowing smile on her face. 

"I know what it is. You're jealous." 

"Jealous? I'm not jealous." 

"Really? Every time Jamie mentions his girlfriend you go strangely quiet, and look like you're about to freeze something." 

"I do not." 

"Yes, you do." Sally was looking right at me, and I tried to avoid her gaze. 

"So, why are you jealous?" 

"Are we really doing this now?" I asked, looking up and down the shop. 

"They aren't any customers." Said Sally with a shrug, "And you can't leave the tills unattended." 

"So you've purposely started this here, where I can't escape." 

Sally's grin turned to a sly one. "You said it, not me." 

Realising that she was waiting for me to answer the question I started poking the pen pot to the side. 

"I don't know. I just don't like the idea of her being around..." I trailed off when I realised where I was going. Sally just nodded, like she knew it all beforehand. 

My mouth moved, but no words came out as I fumbled for an answer. 

"B-but, he's a kid! He's sixteen, I'm twenty one! That's just weird." 

"Only five years. Many married couples have that age gap." 

"M-marriage!? No! J-just, no!" 

Taboo laughed from behind the till while Sally just smiled. 

"You're right, a little early to think about that. And you'd better not say anything for a while, he's still trying to get over his last girlfriend." 

"I don't- I-I-I don't..." I thudded my head onto the counter and sighed. "I don't know." 

"You're never had a boyfriend before." It wasn't a question, but I answered with a shake, or roll, of the head. 

"Take it slow, be supportive. At this age the five year age gap does seem more daunting, so Jamie probably doesn't see you like that. You're an adult, you're out of reach. Only let him know how you feel when you're comfortable." 

"That sounds easier said than done." 

"Of course it is." Said Sally calmly, and I was suddenly glad that it was Sally giving this advice. Tina would have just scoffed like it was obvious. "But that's what makes it worth it." 

Sally patted my head, which was still on the counter. "Don't worry about it too much. The best thing you can do now is be there for your friend, okay?" 

"Got it." 

"Basically, expect to get friend zoned." 

Sally and I jumped as Tina entered the conversation. 

I looked up to see that she was standing behind Sally, and I frowned in confusion. 

"...What's 'friend zoned'?" 

Tina sighed and shook her head. "You need to get out more. The Friend Zone is when the person you like sees you as just a friend. Given how young Jamie is compared to you, you can expect that to happen." 

I winced. "Please don't phrase it like that. It makes me sound like a pedophile." 

"Jamie is legal." Said Tina, and my head met the counter again when I realised what she was implying. 

"No no no no and no. Just... no." 

"I'm only teasing." Defended Tina. "Be patient, and like Sally said be supportive. How's your cooking?" 

I looked up with a disbelieving expression. "Given that I can't stand being near anything that produces heat?" 

"...Touché. I'll leave out the 'the way to man's heart is his stomach' thing." 

"He's sixteen." 

"When Jack was human Jamie would be counted as a man." 

"Yes, and I'd have been married off years ago, but this isn't the seventeen hundreds. Can we drop this now?" 

"Fine, but if you want any other advice, you know where to go." Tina winked and left to check the stock room. Sally and I just looked at each other, with Sally shrugging, her small plait bobbing up and down in her long blonde hair. 

"Just don't tell her if you're ever going on a date." She said, and I nodded slowly, not quite understanding. 

"She'll give you a makeover." Sally clarified and I shuddered. That was not something I wanted to be subjected to. 

"Thanks for the heads up." 

Sally just nodded and got back to whatever she had been doing earlier. 

I was still thinking on Sally's advice at the next meeting. Ideally I should act like nothing was different, but now that I knew why I wanted to freeze Britt solid things were going to difficult on my end. 

So throughout the entire combat session I couldn't help but watch Jamie out of the corner of my eye. He was getting really good with a sword, not quite on par with the rest of us, as we'd been training for much longer, but good for a guy who'd been training for three years. 

He also seemed a little distracted today, but I imagine he was still recovering from the break up. 

When it got to the water break I went over and struck up a conversation. 

"So, how's things?" 

"Fine." 

Oh boy, now I knew why the others found it annoying when I gave one word answers. 

"Hey, it's my job to give the one word answers." I said jokingly, but Jamie didn't seem to be in the mood for jokes. 

I shrugged to Taboo and took a swig of my water. 

"Sorry, it just, since Britt..." 

I managed to remain relaxed this time. 

"Well, I have no advice. I don't have any experience with that kind of thing." 

"I know you don't, and sorry, I don't mean to dump it on you." 

"You're my friend, I don't mind." 

"...Really?" 

"Really, you idiot." I nudged him with my elbow. "Now stop acting so love sick, you're depressing everyone, especially yourself." 

"Hmmm." Jamie seemed lost in thought. He was silent for a bit, then. 

"Britt talked to me last week. Said she wanted to try again." 

I resisted the urge to sigh and punch something. 

"Well, that's your decision." 

"I don't know if I want to though. She's nice and everything, but..." 

"But?" 

"...I don't know." 

I tapped the sides of my bottle, trying to think of what to say. 

"Hey, if you want a man to man talk about it, I suggest Billy. He's had plenty of girls at least flirt with him." 

"Yeah, but..." Jamie muttered something I didn't catch. 

"Sorry?" 

"Nothing." He said, a little too fast, screwing the cap back on his bottle. "Better get back." He stood up and went back to the training sword so quickly that I was left wondering what just happened. 

Later that night I was at the lake, as always, practicing. Taboo had decided to stay at the flat tonight, so I was alone, and once the snow had settled I was glad in a way. 

The moonlight shone down through the gap in the trees above the lake, making the ice shine. The snow caught in the light glittered, and the moon itself was large and full. Truly a beautiful night. 

"...Jackie." 

I jumped about a foot in the air, then berated myself for not hearing anyone coming. 

"Sorry." Said Jamie as I turned to face him from the branch I was sitting on. "Didn't mean to scare you." 

"You didn't scare me, you, just, took me by surprise." 

Jamie smiled. "Sure I did." He looked at the tree trunk, then up at me. "Mind if I join you?" 

"No, go ahead." 

Jamie nodded and easily climbing up to my branch, and I shuffled along to make room. 

"Sorry about earlier." Said Jamie, his breath clouding as he talked. "I wasn't thinking straight." 

I didn't really know what to say to that, so just looked at the moon. 

"I know you haven't been happy that I've had a girlfriend." 

I spluttered and started to deny it, but Jamie put a hand up to stop me. 

"I've seen that look on your face whenever I bring it up, no matter how hard you try to hide it. You look like you want to punch something." 

"... I didn't think I was that easy to read." I said, although Jamie had always been better at this kind of thing than me. 

"Only when you're frustrated." Laughed Jamie. His laughter quickly died and he continued talking. 

"I don't know why you looked like that, and I don't want to guess. Did you know Britt before?" 

"Never met her." 

"Hmmm." 

An awkward silence fell, and I searched for something to say. Then I struck upon what could be gold. 

"Hey, remember when we used to sit here at night?" 

"Huh?" 

"When we were younger. We'd sit here waiting for Jack. Your idea I believe." 

Jamie seemed unsure about where I was going, but nodded. "Yeah, I remember." Another pause, then he nudged my shoulder with his. "You were so grumpy back then." 

"Was not!" 

"Yes you were! You practically brooded!" 

"I did not brood!" 

My annoyance was broken when Jamie started laughing. I'm not sure why it was so funny, but quickly I started laughing too. 

After a while the laughter died and we sat. Suddenly Jamie leaned his head on my shoulder. 

I was so glad that he couldn't see my face, because I'm pretty sure I went several shades of red. I was also panicking, what was I supposed to do? Lean my head on his? Wrap my arm around his shoulder? What do people do in these situations? 

"I've missed this." He said softly, startling me from my panicked thoughts. "I feel like I'm growing up, I don't see Jack as much." 

"Growing old is something we can't help." I said softly. "Growing up, however, is completely optional." 

"Thanks." 

"You're welcome." 

The silence now was comfortable as we just looked at the lake, each of us lost in our thoughts. 

"I don't think I'm going to go out with Britt again." Jamie said suddenly. 

"You sure?" I asked, trying not to sound as happy as I felt. 

"Yeah, it didn't work." 

I'm pretty sure that Jamie closed his eyes on my shoulder. 

"Erm, Jamie?" 

"Hmmm?" 

"Are you going to sleep there? It's only going to get colder tonight." 

"...Cold doesn't bother me." He said, sounding a little sleepy now. 

"Good to know, but your mom would kill me if you got frostbite." 

"Won't get frostbite. Not after how much time I spend around you." 

"Hey!" 

Jamie just laughed, definitely sounding sleepy now. 

"C'mon sleepy head. You've got to go to bed." 

"...Alright." 

We got down from the tree and I helped Jamie get home. When we got to the front door Jamie seemed more awake, and a little nervous about something. 

"Is everything alright?" I asked. 

"Y-yeah." Jamie seemed to be hopping from foot to foot. "Well, night, I guess." 

"Night Jamie." I said, smiling as I backed down the porch steps. 

Jamie seemed to relax slightly and went inside. I just shook my head and walked. There were times were I just did not understand what was going through his head.

**Well, I can just imagine the flames that this might start up.**

**This is, in a way, my answer to Bennefrost, which is a pairing I'm not a fan of. If you like it, fine, it's just not my thing.**


	24. A Sleigh Ride

**I may have messed up the chronological order here. This one actually takes place between 'Jamie's Resolve' and 'A Bit of Freerunning'**

"Alright, hands up anyone who gets air sick."

I was the only one to sheepishly raise my hand in Nigel's back garden, where the entire Branch had gathered.

Nigel raised an impressively thick eyebrow. "I was about to say that I'd improved thrusters so that the ride would be smoother, but, Jackie? You were fine last time you rode in the sleigh."

"I was asleep for most of the ride." I said, my arm moving around to the back of my head in embarrassment as Billy snickered.

"Everyone has to have their weakness. For Jackie, it's deep water and flying." Billy said through sniggers, and I gave him a glare. I regretted the day I mentioned that I couldn't swim to the Branch.

"And for you, it's not knowing when to keep your mouth shut." As usual Tina was the one to keep Billy's mouth in check.

"_I'm liking this group more and more."_ Said Taboo, who was standing next to me. _"And, deep water?"_

_Not important._

"_If you say so."_ Taboo didn't sound convinced. I'd be willing to bet that she'd bring it up later.

"Anyway." Said Nigel, before things could escalate. Jamie, who'd only been with us a few months, suddenly stood with his back as straight as a ruler. It was no secret that he was a little intimidated by Nigel, who didn't have North's advantage of actually being Santa Claus.

"How about we all get in. The night isn't getting any younger."

We clambered into the sleigh, which looked exactly the same as when I had last been in it four or five years ago. Still with that dome, still painted red, although I could see some new thrusters as I tilted my head down to look.

It was a cold night, and most of the Burgess Branch shed layers as they sat down in the sleigh, which was sheltered by the dome that made up the top half.

Taboo settled in the back as I pulled off my hoodie, suddenly way too hot, but I kept quiet for the sake of the people with normal body temperatures.

Nigel gunned the engine once we were buckled in, and we rose into the air. It was a school night, much to Jamie's joy, so not many people would be out and about to see a sleigh taking off like a jet out of a superhero movie.

I found myself gripping the seat, in case we shot forward like we did last time. We did shoot forward, but this time I barely felt it, only noticing because the scenery blurred.

"Whoa!" Jamie was easily the most impressed out of all of us, since he was the only one who hadn't been there last time we used the sleigh. Taboo didn't really count, since she was currently cowering in the back. She seemed to really, really hate heights and refused to look out of the window.

Billy wasn't okay either. Looking back he hadn't been okay last time he'd been in the sleigh, but he'd hidden it well. Now I knew him better I could spot the subtle signs that he was scared.

His nostrils were flared, his ears were twitching and his eyes were flicking around ever so slightly. His senses were on high alert, and he was barely moving, very much like a rabbit in a dangerous situation.

Once we'd gotten to a good height Nigel put the sleigh into 'hover' and passed around ear pieces.

"Okay, we all clear on what's going to happen?" He asked. "Once I finish the countdown, the floor beneath you will slide back and you'll drop. Once you're out of the way of the engines you can halt your descent and let me know. Jackie, Sally, keep an eye on Billy and Jamie, it's up to all of us to make sure they don't go splat, but you do have the best chance of catching them."

"You're not helping." Said Billy drily, trying to hide his unease while Jamie just looked pale. Nigel noticed and looked at the youngest member of the group.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Jamie shook his head. "I wanna try."

"Alright." Said Nigel, nodding and moving back to the control panel at the front. "Everyone got something warm on?"

Everyone except me scrambled to get their warm clothes back on, and within about thirty seconds we were all set.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" We called back, except Taboo, who just whimpered in the background as we stood up in preparation.

"_If we ever have to actually do this, I'm staying in your hood."_

_Fine by me._

"Three."

I took a deep breath and cross my arms across my chest like an Egyptian mummy, looking down at the floor.

"Two."

The floor became transparent, showing the tree line far below us.

"One!"

The floor slid back and I dropped.

My stomach shot up into my chest as I fell, hearing the wind whistling in my free ear, while in my radio I could hear the panicked yells of Jamie and Billy, neither of whom had any experience with falling.

Once I no longer felt the heat from the engine I looked around to find Billy and Jamie. Sally had already formed a platform for Jamie, and as I located Billy and formed a platform for him and me I heard Jamie shakily say.

"_L-launch successful."_

Everyone else quickly said that more calmly and I honestly felt sorry for Jamie. The poor kid looked terrified from being dropped out of the sky.

"_Alright, make your way to the ground and I'll pick you guys up."_

I made a ramp for Billy to slide down, while Sally got inventive and formed a twin para glider for her and Jamie.

"What a show off." I muttered good naturedly.

"Hey, she's keeping your boyfriend alive." Said Tina right by ear. I jumped and turned to see her hovering beside me, her wings a blur.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's a kid."

"I'm joking." Tina shook her head. "Come on, they're going to be waiting for us."

Tina zoomed down and I skated after her, easily catching up. However we reached the ground before it could turn into a race.

Billy seemed to have recovered, while Jamie was still shaking slightly. Overall he seemed alright, knowing him he wouldn't hesitate to do it again this time tomorrow.

It seemed that only we three female members of the Branch were okay with falling out of a sleigh, and we were the ones who could actually get around in the air. Go figure.

"_So." _Said Nigel over the radio as he landed nearby. _"How was that?"_

"Not as bad as I thought it would be." Said Billy.

"What he said." Said Jamie.

"It was fine." Said Tina.

"You have wings!" Cried Billy. "Of course you'd be okay!"

"Falling out of the sky is a great way to clear the cobwebs." I said, on Tina's side for once as we teased Billy. "Don't you agree?"

"Oh yes, clear the cobwebs and get turned into a pancake."

"_I can still hear you,"_ Reminded Nigel. _"Now shut up and get in the sleigh, or it will just be me, Sally and Jamie going bowling this weekend."_

The threat worked as both Tina and Billy sprinted for the sleigh. I wasn't as bothered by the threat of not bowling, so I laughed and walked back at my own pace, taking up the rear on the way to sleigh in the snow.

"_So, we've cleared flying. Deep water?"_ I heard Taboo ask as we walked back to the sleigh.

_I am not answering that._

"_Come on. Please?"_

_Not now, when we get back._

"_Fine."_

**Yep, Jackie can't swim. I figured that she'd never learnt, as it's instinct for her to freeze water when it touches her, so learning to swim would seem pointless.**

**If you want to see how well that works out, I suggest having a look at a collab fic that I've been working on with MimitationBalance called Black Sheep. I can't figure out how to get links to work, so you'll have to look in my favourites to find it I'm afraid.**


	25. One Lesson

"Jack! Put me down!"

My legs pedalled in the air above the Burgess Woods, being held up by the armpits by a winter spirit who I was certain had gone insane.

"Come on! It's fun up here!" Jack was laughing in my ear, which did not help.

"No! Really not fun!"

"Be boring then." Sighed Jack, "Just make an ice bridge."

"I can't concentrate when I'm hanging this precariously!"

"That's the point." Jack was back in teacher mode. "Say if you fell out of the sky, you'll need to be able to catch yourself before you hit the ground."

I grumbled because he was making sense.

"Lighten up! If you can do it then I'll show you something really cool."

"Pun intended?"

"No pun. You'll find out what it is if you can form a platform up here."

I looked back down at the ground and it swam dizzily in front of me.

"I know it's high." Said Jack, guessing what I was thinking. "You can do it, just ignore how far down it is."

"Easier said than done." I muttered, then took a deep breath through my nose. My hands splayed out and a platform appeared below my feet, which Jack dropped me on to. It held as it floated in the sky.

"Good job!" Jack spun around until he was hanging upside down in front of me. "Now, time for the cool thing."

He flipped himself back up and grinned. "Race you to that house!"

"Hey!" I called as he shot off towards a house that he hadn't even pointed out.

I shook my head and held my hand out, shooting out ice to form a bridge to skate on. I skated side on as I followed Jack, who had settled on a roof near the centre of town, frost spreading from his figure across the roof.

"I win."

"Stuff you." I replied, stepping onto the roof and making the bridge disappear. I sat down on the tiles and looked at Jack.

"So, why are we in the centre of town, where we can be seen? It's only nine."

"Almost nine." Jack looked up into the sky and I followed his gaze, seeing a gold coloured cloud appear in the sky.

I recognised it. It was Sandman's cloud, from where he delivered dreams. I'd seen it several times.

"What's so 'cool' about this?" I asked and Jack held up a finger, his mouth moving as he silently counted down.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

Right on cue golden streams of sand flowed from the cloud and dispersed into different directions, hitting and passing through windows.

I let an impressed whistle as Jack laughed. "Right on time Sandman!"

He stood up and ran for the nearest stream, running his hand through it. Golden dolphins appeared out of it and circled him, jumping and making clicking noises.

Jack laughed again and pointed at another stream. "Go on, it's fun."

"Are you sure Sandman doesn't mind this?" I asked, standing up and balancing on the sloped roof.

"Course! Go on."

I walked up towards the stream and jumped up to catch it. The sand sifted through my fingers like silk and a little stickily and it burst into the scene of a snowball fight.

I spun on my toes to watch the various figures running around. I ducked underneath a tiny snowball that went soaring over my shoulder.

I had to laugh at the scene. It was just one of those things, it was a scene full of joy.

"See what I mean?"

I looked back over at Jack, who had a massive grin on his face.

"Yeah." I called back. "This is great!"

I turned back to the scene and felt like I could watch it for hours. After what felt like too soon the images faded and Sandman's cloud began to move on.

Jack sat back down on the roof with his staff across his lap, legs swinging. I made my way down the roof and sat down beside him, still with a stupid grin on my face.

"You, I think you guys forget sometimes."

I looked at Jack, completely confused. "Forget what?"

"Our powers, or abilities. We don't use them to fight. We use them to provide dreams, wonder, hope, fun. You use them to fight, but that isn't why they exist in the first place."

"I never thought you'd get philosophical."

I looked down at my own feet, not as bothered by the height now. "You've got a point though. But we are an army. We keep the Descendants of Pitch in check while you do your jobs. We aren't you, maybe we got our powers to do just that, fight."

"Maybe, or maybe you were supposed to help us."

I shrugged. "No idea. The Heads might know, but I've gone over what I know several times, genetically it doesn't make sense. I'm not directly descended from you, and you gained your powers after you died, right?"

"Right."

"So, it makes no sense that I got ice powers."

"Yeah it doesn't make sense. Maybe it doesn't matter that it doesn't."

"Of course it matters. This is world grounded in science."

"Said the girl with ice powers talking to Jack Frost."

"...Touché."

"Anyway, if you find out it takes the fun out of the mystery."

"Most people in HOG won't see that way."

"Well, they're boring."

"Speaking of boring, I've got homework." I said, standing up.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Jack's sullen face suddenly split into a grin. "You called homework boring. Normally you defend it by saying it's actually interesting."

"It can be, but this one isn't. It's due tomorrow though."

"Alright, the King of Snowball Fights lets you off, citizen."

"Oh, you are too kind your Highness." I mock bowed and formed an ice bridge to get me home.

**Reckon this happens around the time Jackie's sixteen or so.**  
**It also puts into question the Descendants a bit. In my mind, the Descendants started off as an accident, from when various refugees from the Golden Age made it to Earth. However, as more modern legends appear, it gets a fuzzier. I will openly admit that the opening genetics do not make sense, I'll admit that. I'm falling into my own criticism about 'using magic as a plothole filler' as I used to explain it as 'magic and science mixing together leads to unpredictable results' and I refuse to keep pulling that. There could be some residual magic around, from the likes of Jack's transformation, but for Toothiana's and North's Descendants? No such luck. I could also say that the Man in the Moon played a part in that, but I can't actually agree with that. I'm under the impression that MiM is not as powerful as some make him out to be. I see him as more like Nick Fury commanding the Avengers. He's got the intel, and may very well have a plan, and asks the more capable people to handle it.**  
**And now I've strayed from the point, how do family related Descendants get their powers in the first place?**  
**Honestly? Right now? I don't know. **  
**If anyone else can come up with a theory, I'd love to hear it, until then, I'm going to be sitting on this for a bit longer. I'm happy to go with Jackie's view that Descendants were created for a purpose, but by whom? 'Tis a mystery, and one I intend to solve.**

**EDIT 26/11/15**  
**Got an idea!**  
**Okay, since Some Descendants have been around for as long as humans have been around (at least in some areas) it wouldn't surprise me that someone like Ombric would be aware of their existence. He may have thought that, in case some of them get out of control, it would make more sense for some of their own kind to step in, rather than immortals or other mortals (I personally consider Ombric as an immortal long before the events of GoC, come on, he's lived since the fall of Atlantis!) so may have designed a spell to extend this to other, similar beings families This might also have been somewhat of an experiment to see how the Descendants would function.**  
**Now, one thing I didn't mention, while I don't think MiM has a great deal of actual power, many people think that he does, so in those universes MiM would have had something to do with it (as he seems to do ****_everything_**** in those interpretations). So, yes, that's my theory.**

**Now to the actual one shot. An example of Jack's teaching methods.**  
**I imagine Jack's lessons would be more on control and pointers on techniques that Jackie was learning rather than actually teaching her moves (although I bet he couldn't resist teaching her a few). This is because their two styles are very different. Jack is very focused on his staff, using it as, well, a conduit, something to conduct his powers with. Jackie on the other hand leans more to the bending style of cyrokinesis, using her whole body to manipulate ice, snow and frost, although it is mainly focused through her arms and hands.**  
**Since the two have such different styles, it would have been very difficult for Jack to teach his moves, and even harder for Jackie to learn, as she would have to re-learn everything from the ground up. So rather than try to teach her his way, he focuses on what Jackie needs to learn, such as control in stressful situations.**

**And, I think I've gone on long enough. Shapeshifter out.**


	26. Descendants of Jack O'Lantern Info

**This is a Descendant group from the HOG/Mimpossible crossover-Black Sheep. This version of Jack O'Lantern is technically mine, but I doubt I'm ever going to use him again. And, I dropped the ball here, I didn't even realise that MimitationBalance had uploaded the chapter involving these guys yet, so it's a bit late. Otherwise, here they are.**

Signature colour-orange

Signature weapon-none

Symbol- Flaming pumpkin

They are descended from his extended family after his apparent death.

They have a core body temperature of roughly 47 degrees Celsius, with skin at roughly 33. Temperature does not change when they use their fire power. Some have flora kinesis, specifically pumpkins and turnips, but can expand with practice. All have the higher temp and water tends to evaporate when it touches their skin.

They generate fire usually with a snap of their fingers. It is often limited to short bursts from various appendages, although the most powerful can create streams of fire.

All Descendants live within walking distance of either a graveyard, a turnip field or a pumpkin field. From those locations a tunnel to their headquarters can be formed either with the help of the Descendants of Groundhog, Bunnymund or by their own flora kinesis- manipulating the plant roots to dig through the ground.

All are usually between five foot and five foot six in height, with a round face, black or red hair and naturally slim.

They are not fussy about climate, but don't cope well in cold environments.


	27. Descendants of Solarion Info(BlackSheep)

**This, I suppose, is the first example of a Descendant group of an immortal that is not mine. Fiero Solarion belongs to MimitationBalance and his Descendants make a brief appearance in our crossover fic, Black Sheep. MimitationBalance is currently posting the story here, while I am posting it on my DeviantArt account, which if you want to have a look is under TheShapeshifter100. **

**If anyone else wants me to make a Descendant group for their OC immortal/spirit, just message me and I'll give it a shot.**

Signature colour-yellow (similar to that of dry grass)

Signature weapon-none

Symbol-Burning Baobab tree

They have the same biological differences that the Descendants of Jack O'Lantern do, however, because they do not possess limited flora kinesis as well, they focus more on their pyrokinesis. Their style of fire use is similar to that of Fiero Solarion, which in turn is similar to fire bending from 'Avatar'.

As a lot of seasonal and elemental spirit titles are inherited, these Descendants are more descended from the original Solarion than the current Spirit of Fire, Fiero. Although there are a few who are more closer related to Fiero than the first Solarion and the same goes back generations. Therefore making this one of the most genetically diverse Descendant groups.

They follow the dry season in Africa, making them nomadic. Unlike the Descendants of Lupine though, they do pitch tents when they make camp, and will stay in place for up to several weeks at a time before moving on.

Most of them are quick to anger if provoked. They all share the same dark skin and eyes, often with full dark hair, but some do have red of blonde colouring on the tips of their hair. There is no single body type or face structure, given the diversity.


	28. Another Letter from Jackie

Hi, me again.

I have been linked a video by TheShapeshifter100, where William Joyce, the supposed creator of the Guardians of Childhood, claims to have found actual factual records of the Guardians in a grain silo in Texas. I have no doubt that this is true, however as far we are aware Mr Joyce is not a Descendant so previously it had been a subject of mystery as to how he knew about all this. It is information a non Descendant should not have had access to, and yet here he is publishing accurate histories of the Guardians, along with being an executive producer for Rise of the Guardians, which again are events that actually occurred. Now we know how he came about this information and we're going to have to investigate this one, because a Head must have really dropped the ball for this to happen! I can only assume they left some files behind when they moved from the farm, we'll have to look around a bit.

Here's a link to the video if anyone wants to see it, no real point in trying to hide it because who knows how many people have already seen it and there's no way of tracking them.

watch?v=f_ELTvY51vo (I know links don't work well here, if you put the YouTube web address in followed by that then you should it)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just need to call a meeting with the other Heads. And I'll see if I can get in contact with Jack, because if it isn't us then the Guardians may very well want to know about this. The odd thing is, these files that Mr Joyce has found might be more complete than our current records, our knowledge on Nightlight is very limited. We will need to look deeper if we are determine the accuracy of some of these files.

I have to get back to work, so I hope you enjoy TheShapeshifter100's novelisation of my adventures, along with some, questionable, 'one shots' around my normal life. (I said I was sorry!)

Anyway, I would recommend reading these books if you can find them. They are clearly written for a younger audience, but that does not diminish their quality. Keep believing, and remember, if you believe you might be a Descendant, do not hesitate to contact me, we're always on the lookout after all.


	29. Descendants of Mother Nature Information

Signature colour-Pale green

Signature weapon-unknown

Symbol-Oak leaf

Most have powers over wind and lightning, as well as limited ability to control clouds to form precipitation. Some even have the power to control mist and fog. Not snow, that remains a weather pattern only the Descendants of Frost can do.

Because of this they have electro kinesis, aero kinesis and hydro kinesis outside of the weather. Depending on what part of the weather they can control of course. So those who can create thunderstorms can control electricity etc.

They cannot form storms on their own, it takes multiple Descendants to form and control it.

Mother Nature is such an old spirit that there isn't a set phenotype, excluding bright green eyes.

It is believed that when Mother Nature landed with Sandman, pieces of the wreckage became imbued with her power and flew out towards some humans. This created her Descendants, which seemed to cross over with some Descendants of Pitch. Whether this was because of the family connection between Mother Nature and Pitch or a coincidence is unknown. However, it is believed that it was not a coincidence because they are the only Descendants that this has happened to.

The Descendants of Mother Nature do not skip generations, all descendants are Descendants. It is theorised this is because their powers are so varied that it cannot be skipped. However, because their powers are so varied, it makes it easy for them to connect to the world around them, making them the best weather predictors.

They live their early lives in communal trees, one of them being on each continent. Once a Descendant reaches school age (it was averaged at five) they go to the Great Oak, which is in a location only known to the Descendants of Mother Nature, for training. They spend thirteen years there and then they can leave to go into the world or go live in the communal trees in their home continent.

Those that go into the world will only return to the tree they were born in to either attend a birth or in times of great emergency. Few do leave as they become used to life in a forest and find adjusting to a city or even a small town difficult.

Inside the Great Oak those studying are put into three categories by age. 5-10 years olds are known as Seeds, 11-15 year olds are Leaves and 16-18's are Saplings. They learn the basic English Maths and Science, as well as Ecology, traditional Geography, Tracking and Natural Studies, which is learning to identify species of flora and fauna and how to survive in different natural environments. This is often alongside learning to use their powers.

There are other optional subjects (usually chosen at 13) that can help with the outside world if they choose to leave. Examples include World History, Languages, IT and cooking. These often involve field trips to the outside world.

They are often visited by their parents, usually on non study days, which is not always necessarily the weekend.

Each Tree has an Overseer, with the High Overseer residing in the Great Oak. The High Overseer acts as leader and Head Teacher, as well as training successors.

If anyone else wishes to teach they will have to take courses in the outside world. Otherwise jobs within the Great Trees usually have training within them.

**As always, if anyone wants me to write a set of Descendants for their immortal/spirit OC, just PM me with the character details and I can go from there.**


	30. Descendants of Lupine Information

**Thanks to Merlia W for following!**

**Edit 06/10/15  
William Joyce is participating in Inktober in the lead up to the Jack Frost picture book, and he's also releasing some little bits of information on his Instagram. Including the fact that vampires and werewolves exist in this universe. So yeah, had to change the werewolf bit.  
If anyone wants to look his Instagram name is heybilljocye**

Signature colour-grey

Signature weapon-none

Symbol- Non HOG-dog paw print, HOG-fir tree

These Descendants weren't a threat or even aware of their heritage until five years after Pitch's most recent defeat at the hands of the Guardians. Most of them appear to have the ability to change their shape into a wolf at will, and may also be able to manipulate shadows to a greater degree than the Descendants of Pitch.

In human form their eyes are wolf like, which can range from yellow, amber, grey or brown. Their hair colour is the same as their coat colour in wolf form, which in the case of the group that attacked Jackie was black. Unlike normal wolves who have varied coat colours, Descendants of Lupine usually have a solid coat colour.

The transition between human and wolf varies depending on the amount of practice the individual has. The more practice, the, swifter, smoother and more painless the change. However, the more they change, the more their human appearance becomes wolf like. Some have that kind of face anyway, but for some their canines become more like fangs and their ears become elongated. In extreme cases excess body hair can grow in strange places.

They have a greater command over shadows than the Descendants of Pitch, using it in a similar way to Dream/Nightmare Sand. They can also use it to shadow travel.

While they cannot create and directly command Nightmares in the same way as the Descendants of Pitch, they can 'tame' them. If a single Descendant can get onto the back of a Nightmare, they can make it do what they tell it to as long as they are in physical or shadow contact with it. It cannot be tamed indefinitely and once released it will either be destroyed or return to the Descendants of Pitch. This is a trait any 'dark' Descendant has, but it is rarely utilised.

They appear to have a pack like structure, and those that follow Lupine are the most animal like. All of them are nomadic, travelling around the world and officially they don't exist.

In most packs they have a human approach to breeding, anyone can as long as they both consent. However the more animalistic packs have a wolf like approach, only the dominant pair breed. Because of their shapeshifting nature how Descendants are born is more complicated. If offspring are conceived while the parents are in wolf form, they will be shapeshifting Descendants, no exceptions. If they are conceived while the parents are in human form, they have the same chance as any other child of a Descendant to be a Descendant.

Children who are not Descendants born into a pack are usually left at orphanages after a few years, four or five. It depends on the pack. It is done at this age so that the child remembers their heritage and passes it on so that when a Descendant is born into their family again, in theory the parents will not panic and pass the child to a passing pack.

The "Black Furs" are Lupine's elite, twenty to thirty Descendants with the highest raw power. Pete's pack were in high up in the Lupine's eyes, but Pete died and was replaced, the new leader pulling them out of the "Black Furs". Contrary to the name you do not have to have black fur to be part of the elite, it's just that all of the original elite had black fur, so the name stuck.

Most packs are similar to HOG Branches, constantly on the lookout for potential Lupine Descendants. Several packs respect Lupine and are interconnected in some way. There are however, neutral packs.

Tracey's pack is a neutral pack. They keep in contact with other packs, keeping their pack leaders up to date with the rest of the happenings involving the Descendants of Lupine and any other pieces of information. Because of this they know more about the world than they appear to.

Neutral packs are a majority and consist of those who do not wish to follow through with Lupine's plans. Descendant of Pitch 'traitors' can find safe havens with these packs, having gained the courage to do so when Penelope turned traitor. Many other Descendants who do not want to follow the rest of their Descendants with what they're doing can join these packs as well.

After the Battle of the Undead HOG and Tracey's pack become affiliated, but the pack is not truly a part of HOG. This was a request from Tracey herself. After a while there were three clear factions among the Descendants of Lupine, one loyal to Lupine, one neutral and one that was loyal to HOG.

It is assumed that they have increased senses in human form, but it is unconfirmed.

They have no geographic preference.

They are not related to werewolves.


	31. ROTG Part 1

**So far with the one shots I've been trying to keep it in rough chronological order. I've now realised I can't do that, so I will have Jackie's age at the beginning of the one shot so you know when it takes place.**

**Coming up is a series of one shots around the events of ROTG and HOG was doing during it, obviously this happens before HOG, but I might as well keep my word and say that Jackie is 13 when this occurs.**

**Oh, and thanks to A Yuugi x Yami for following and favouriting!**

In Rome Samson Tramarco was walking from work when he noticed that the people around him were staring at the sky.

He stopped and followed their gaze with his blue eyes into the evening sky. Above him shone the Northern Lights.

Whilst the people around him stared in awe, Samson felt dread. The Northern Lights this far south could only mean that there was something happening with the Guardians, and if Pitch was involved...

Samson picked up the pace, walking between people who were still pointing and staring up at the sky. Alexander was most likely collecting the Head's now, so now Samson's main goal now was to get off the streets.

Claire Evans was also on her way home when the lights made their presence known, shining through the lights of the city of Cape Town. Her wings twitched beneath her coat as people stopped and stared. She was desperate to fly home as quickly as possible, but knew that she'd have to be cautious than that.

Instead of walking she held her arm out to catch a passing bus, hopped aboard and settled herself down for the ride, ignoring the lights and her twitching wings.

Jason Morris was out his eating his lunch when people started freaking out about the lights.

He was having his lunch on a bench by a park, enjoying the warm spring sunshine, when somebody's amazed shout drew his gaze upwards.

Even the light of the day couldn't diminish their brilliance as the lights danced across the sky, but their brilliance did nothing to ease the sudden worry in Jason's stomach.

He packed up his lunch, called work to make his excuses, and went home to wait for Alexander, who was undoubtedly making his way to their locations at this very moment.

Alexander Banks' morning had not gotten to a good start, having over cooked his eggs when the lights showed up.

Half remembered protocol dashed through his mind with the speed of a Concorde, the other Heads were expecting him to get Tunnels to them, then they would meet at Claire's house. Which had most of the files stored within it.

Alexander begrudgingly scraped the burnt eggs out of the frying pan and into the bin, mourning his lost breakfast.

As it was Good Friday here, no one was expecting him at work, so Alexander moved outside, tapped his foot twice against the ground and hopped down into the Tunnel. Hoping that he didn't bump into his furry ancestor on the way.

Claire was waiting impatiently in her living room for the other Head's to arrive. She had only just gotten back herself, but it didn't stop her from being twitchy. Well, twitchy by her standards, which meant that her wings were shifting slightly. Something big was going on, and they had to be ready.

Finally a human sized hole appeared in the middle of her floor, and out popped Samson, Jason and last a panting Alexander.

Claire stood up to greet her guests and got them seated, handing out hot drinks. Once everyone was sorted they down to business.

"So." Started Jason, "Everyone saw the lights?"

"Couldn't exactly miss 'em." Said Alexander, sipping his coffee.

"They'll be all over the news tomorrow no doubt." Said Claire.

"Yes, that is true, but the question is, what should we do?" Asked Jason, gazing around the room.

"Something is happening." Said Samson, "The Guardians would not gather for no reason."

"Agreed, something's up their end." Said Alexander.

"And if trouble comes to the Guardians, trouble will come to us well." Said Claire.

"Yeah, we know, but the only issues we've ever had have been with the Descendants of Pitch, and they haven't been a serious threat in centuries." Argued Alexander. "Sure we've had a few skirmishes, but only with single Branches, they wouldn't attack all of us!"

"Just because they haven't been a threat for a while doesn't mean they will remain so." Countered Jason. "We may have to prepare for the worst."

"But what would that worst be?" Asked Samson.

"Worst case scenario could be an all out attack." said Jason, "But we don't know if that will happen, or if they even have the resources to do such a thing."

"We don't know much about them in general." Said Alexander. "We know their powers, we know about contamination and we know that they don't take kindly to traitors. That's about it."

"We don't know numbers or locations." Continued Claire, "All of which would be vital information if they did attack."

"And how would we get that information? Grab a Descendant of Pitch and ask them nicely?" said Alexander disbelievingly.

"Let us not despair over information we do not have." Said Samson, "instead, concentrate on what we should do."

"Samson's right." Said Claire, leaning forward in her chair. "We don't know how much time we have."

"Do we have enough time to get all of the Branches together?" Asked Alexander.

"That's something we can't know." Said Jason with a sigh, leaning back in his chair. "I propose that we alert the Branches and be on our guard."

Samson nodded in agreement while Claire and Alexander thought.

"There's not much else we can really do is there?" asked Alexander with a sigh, running his hand through his dark curly hair, which he hadn't had time to brush this morning.

"So, we'll send out word to the Branches?" Claire looked at her fellow Heads to confirm the decision.

"I agree." Said Alexander.

Samson nodded. "I also agree."

Jason clapped his hands together, "Well, let's grab the Branch list and sort out which ones each of us will contact."

All four of them had a copy of this list and Claire disappeared to go and get hers.

She went up into the attic of her house and scanned the files shelved against the wall. She found the file from memory and went back to her living room. She placed the file on the coffee table and opened it, spreading out the several sheets of paper contained within it as the other Heads pulled their chairs closer.

Alexander, who was facing the window, noticed something shining through it through his peripheral vision. He looked up to see the moon shining brightly through the window, it's light becoming concentrated on the floor by the window.

It took a few seconds for Alexander to register what was happening and when he did he stood up, startling his fellow Heads.

"Are you alright Alexander?" Asked Claire.

"Just look out of the window." Said Alexander, unsure if what he was seeing was real, and as a Descendant of a Guardian, that was saying something.

Claire looked up while Jason and Samson turned around in their seats, and each of their faces showed varying degrees of surprise and shock.

"The Man in the Moon?" breathed Jason, not quite able to believe his eyes.

Claire's mind had gone into overdrive, trying to remember when the Man in the Moon had last communicated with HOG, but she came up short. This had never happened before.

The quartet stepped around their chairs to get a closer look at the concentrated moonlight. Once they all had a clear view a silhouette appeared in the moonlight.

A staff with a G shaped end appeared and all four of them furrowed their brows. They recognised the staff all right.

"Jack Frost?" asked Claire. "Why would you tell us about Jack Frost?"

The silhouette changed, the G on the staff becoming larger until the remainder of the staff disappeared.

"Jack Frost is a Guardian now?" Spluttered Jason as the meaning clicked. Jack Frost was listed in their files all right, and he did not have the best of reputations. Mischievous and a trouble maker to boot. More concerned about snowball fights than protecting children.

"So, we have to look for Descendants of Jack Frost?" Asked Samson.

"Looks like it." Said Alexander, stroking his chin, feeling the stubble under his chin from not having the chance to shave yet either. "But if a new Guardian's been called in, then something really big is happening."

"Enough to get the Descendants of Pitch to attack en mass?" Asked Claire.

The moonlight faded, having passed on the message it needed to. The Order could handle themselves from here.

"The matter still stands." Said Jason, who had been glaring at the floor where the moon light was. "We should still alert the Branches to the possible danger. We can worry about the Descendants of Jack Frost once this has blown over."


	32. ROTG Part 2

All four members of the Burgess Branch were sat in their usual meeting place. Nigel had received a message from Jason for them to all ready to receive information. It was Friday afternoon, Good Friday to be precise.

There was little banter as Jason's face popped up on Skype.

"Good evening Burgess Branch. Are we all present and correct?"

"Yes sir." Replied Nigel, tapping his knee with nervous energy.

"Excellent. My message is short and to the point, but first, did you all see the Northern Lights yesterday?"

Tina nodded. "Yes we did." She looked to her fellow Branch members for confirmation and they all nodded.

"Good. We all know what the lights mean, but as of yet we do not know why. My message is simply this; be on guard. We do not know what may happen."

Billy looked a little disappointed that it wasn't much else, but decided now was not the time to speak up.

"Do you have anything to get in touch with us in an emergency?" Asked Jason.

"We do." Replied Nigel. "I have been working on a set of radio earpieces, they are untested though."

"It's better than nothing. Chances are nothing will happen with you, but be careful."

"Yes sir."

"Jason out."

The call cut and Billy looked at Nigel.

"Radio earpieces? You can pick those up from the store!"

Nigel folded his arms and looked the Descendant of Bunnymund. "They are designed to pick up a signal from the other side of the world if necessary. Like I said, they're untested."

"Can't we just use cell phones?"

"Too slow." Said Sally.

"And too expensive." Added Tina.

"Exactly." Agreed Nigel. In truth he hadn't considered these reasons, he had just made them for the sake of making them.

Billy through his hands up in the air. "Okay! I get it! Nigel's amazing and Billy's an idiot, can we move on?"

"Someone's got a low ego today." Commented Tina and Billy glared at her, but one looked from Sally and Nigel stopped them from taking it any further.

"Anyway, before you two start ripping each other's throats out, how about we work out what we're going to do about Jason's warning?"

"Patrol?" Suggested Sally.

"The whole of Burgess?" Asked Tina. "There's only four of us!"

"Not to mention Tanglewood." Said Billy, which was his home town.

"Tanglewood's close enough for us to be able to see from here if something's wrong." Mused Sally.

"Patrolling isn't a bad idea." Said Nigel, his hand on his chin as he thought. "We can use the radio earpieces to help us cover the town."

"In that case, if we stick to the roofs we should be alright." Said Billy, although it could just be him getting back at Tina.

"Excellent. Shall we meet back here in an hour to hand out the ear pieces and decide which part of Burgess we're covering?"

The others nodded in agreement, although Tina still didn't look happy.

"Alright then, see you back here in an hour!"

Billy was jogging back with his boomerangs in a bag, having sprinted most of the way. It had gotten dark by this point, but he could still see perfectly fine. That came with being a Descendant of Bunnymund.

He easily had the furthest to go, given that Tanglewood was the next town over. He took it as an opportunity to warm up.

He jumped out of his skin as a car alarm sounded on the street over and he saw something dark darting across the far end of the street. It was too large to a dog, it was easily the size of person, but it had been running on all fours like a dog.

Or a seven foot tall lagomorph.

"No bleedin' way." He breathed, had he just seen his ancestor running past?

There was a trail of frost appearing parallel to Billy and where Bunnymund had run from, which should have been expected, it had been snowing for a large chunk of the day. Despite Easter being just around the corner.

Billy shook his head and kept walking, if Bunnymund was out and about then he should just stay out of the way.

"Alright, what have we all got?" Asked Billy as he entered the meeting place. Both Tina and Nigel had brought bags while Sally was empty handed.

Nigel dug around in his bag and brought out 4 ear pieces and two gold coloured cylinders.

"Everyone grab an ear piece, the gold things are mine."

"What are they?" Asked Tina as she picked up an ear piece and fitted it into her ear.

"Swords. I haven't practiced with them for a while, but you never know when you'll need them."

"Er, Nigel old buddy old pal." Said Billy as he fitted his ear piece. "They're kinda missing something. Like, I don't know, the blade!"

Nigel gave Billy a knowing smile as he double checked his ear piece. Wordlessly he picked up the gold cylinders and held them in his hands. His thumbs twitched and a pair of slightly curved blades shot out.

In a lightning quick response Billy pulled out his boomerangs and Tina pulled out a thin long sword.

"Good to know you two are prepared." Said Nigel dryly as he observed the pair's weapons and stances.

Billy was carrying two different types of boomerangs. The more traditional looking boomerang was a very solid looking piece of polished wood, clearly for braining someone from quite a distance away. The weapon wasn't greatly decorated, with a slightly faded black, green and blue ringed egg on either end and a grey rabbit in the centre.

The second was straighter, but still curved and made of the same dark wood. It had the same decoration as the other one with a few flower like carvings, but one side was jagged. This one was for close range clubbing.

Billy had a very solid stance that was clearly well practiced, with his throwing boomerang above his head to throw and the clubbing one out front to defend. The Osbourne line was known for producing excellent fighters whether or not they had flora or geo kinesis.

Tina had small sword, which was similar to fencing sword. The blade was thin, clearly more for thrusting and with Tina's speed in the air it was certainly suitable for her. The black hilt was decorated with a pair of feathered wings that curved upwards to form the guard and the pommel was shaped like a hawk's head. Across the blade the name of the sword was written, the _Baza_.

Tina was standing in a loose fencing stance, which Nigel understood to be the limit of Tina's fighting experience. She had excellent theoretical weapon knowledge, which would have to take the place of actual practice.

Nigel drew back his blades and the other two relaxed, Billy putting his boomerangs down to put on holsters around his waist. Tina pulled out a scabbard and sheathed her sword before attaching the blue and purple scabbard to her belt.

"Sally, do you have anything?" Nigel asked the Descendant of Sandman, a little concerned by her lack of weapon. He doubted they would be attacked, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

Sally merely smiled and formed a gladius out of Dream Sand and went into a lower stance, holding the short sword out in front of her.

"Good good." Nigel pulled out a map of Burgess from his bag and spread it out on the table he'd pulled out from the equipment cupboard.

"We can assume that if we are attacked that it will occur at night or early in the morning, when there are fewer people around. We shall split up around the four cardinal points of the town."

Nigel pulled out a pen and began cordoning off parts of the town.

"Tina, you've the east side, Sally you have the west." He gestured their areas with his pen. "Billy you've got the south side and I'll take the north. We'll stop once the sun's up and be back patrolling once the sun goes down, since attacking during the day is unlikely. Any questions?"

"Yeah, if these things don't work," Billy tapped his ear piece, "how are we going to get help?"

"In your case, yell as loud as you can and run." Said Nigel "Anything else?"

Tina and Sally shook their heads.

"Alright then, let's go!"

In Claire's house the Head's had set up base. They had various laptops and computers keeping an eye on world news and updates from various Branches. On the coffee table stood a radio receiver and four microphones and headsets to get in contact with the Branches using radio.

With everything set up the Head's sat back and waited.

All across the world Branches had the same idea as the Burgess Branch, so they sat on top of roofs and tree tops to scan their area. Descendants of Toothiana and Sandman hovered in the air while Descendants of North and Bunnymund scanned and patrolled the streets.

HOG was ready and waiting.


	33. ROTG Part 3

The Wellington Branch was the first to report, which Claire read out loud.

"No Mini Fairies."

"What?" Cried Alexander. "How can there not be any Mini Fairies?"

"I don't know." Claire replied calmly, but her hands were shaking slightly, "but there aren't."

"Why though?" Asked Jason, leaning back in the chair.

"Belief." Replied Samson. "No fairies mean no teeth being collected which means children stop believing, which mean the Guardians weaken."

Jason turned to Claire. "Do you want to get your fellow Descendants to go and collect the teeth?"

Claire shook her head. "We have no idea where we would need to go. We'd only be wasting time and resources."

Claire's laptop beeped and she relaxed as she read the message. "Besides, the Guardians are already on it."

"What?" Asked Alexander, struggling to hold back laughter. Samson was also smiling and Jason felt his mouth twitching. The image of the four, well, five Guardians now, jumping across rooftops and collecting the tiny baby teeth was almost too much.

"From Bejing, the Guardians are collecting the teeth."

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about it." Jason's face was dying to grin, but he did his best to remain professional. Alexander on the other hand was grinning with mirth.

"Relax, that's hilarious!" He said.

"It is... somewhat amusing." Admitted Jason and he turned back to the various computer screens, waiting for news.

Billy was the first to notice the Sandman speeding along the streets, chasing a Nightmare. Billy tapped his ear piece and began speaking.

"Nigel, I'm eyeballing Sandman chasin' a Nightmare, headin' north east. Over."

"Keep an eye on him. There may be more Nightmares. Over." Replied Nigel, but as he talked Sandman had already turned the Nightmare into a ray.

"Panic over. Nightmare neutralised. Over."

Nigel nodded on the other side of town and removed his hand from the ear piece, the microphone retreating into the black box over his ear. He was standing on the outskirts of town, his back to the woods. A snapping twig made him jump and he turned back to face the forest.

Dark shapes moved through the trees and Nigel's hand shot back to his ear.

"Nigel to Branch, Nigel to Branch. Nightmares and Pitch Descendants in woods. I repeat Nightmares and Pitch Descendants in the woods. Over."

"Tina to Nigel. Nightmares on the eastern side of town. Over."

"Sally to Nigel, Nightmares on the west side. Over."

"Billy to Branch, Pitch Descendants on the south side. Over."

"Hold them off! Over!"

Nigel leapt off the roof and extended his blades, ready to meet the enemy. The Nightmares attempted to surge past and Nigel slashed at them with his swords. A few got through but most of them met their end to Nigel's blades.

"Stand aside old man!" Came a cry.

Out of the shadows appeared a tall man in his twenties with dirty blonde hair, sharp blue eyes and a pointed chin.

"What makes you think you can give me orders?" Asked Nigel, his swords still out.

"None of your business." The man's eyes narrowed. "I'll assume that you're from HOG?"

"I don't see why I should tell you."

If anything the man's eyes narrowed further as he considered something.

"Charge!"

A group of five Descendants rushed towards Nigel, but he was ready. He met their sand weapons head on and slashed to the side, catching another Descendant's weapon before it hit him.

Nigel saw himself as woefully out of practice, but to the Descendants of Pitch they saw a serious opponent.

On the other side of town Billy was fighting hard to stop the Descendants of Pitch getting through. He sent many of them to ground with his boomerangs and was moving too quickly for the Descendants of Pitch to snag him. The ones fighting Billy were woefully underprepared, they clearly hadn't been expecting any resistance.

Tina was flying almost directly below the sleigh that was gracing the sky. She was only skimming the rooftops, her sword pushing in and out of the flying Nightmares while the sleigh was high above her.

Sally was flying on a small platform of Dream Sand, firing sand missiles into the Nightmares and making them disappear. Any that got too close met her gladius.

"Tina to Branch, all four Guardians are in Burgess. Over."

"Billy to Nigel. How's it going your end? Over."

"Can't talk now. Over." Nigel blocked another slash from a Descendant of Pitch. He had already gained a shallow gash in his side, but he was still fighting.

In a brief respite he tapped his ear piece, praying it would work.

"Burgess Branch to Jason. We need backup! Over."

"What's going on? Over." Jason released the microphone button and Nigel's crackly voice came through the speakers along with the squeal of swords.

"Descendants of Pitch and Nightmares. Guardians are also here. Over."

Sally paused for second as the Nightmares were drawn away. Her gaze was drawn to the sky and saw the golden light of Sandman flicker out. Physically there was no effect to Sally, but felt as though she'd been punched in the gut.

"...No..."

The Nightmares retreated from everyone and went into the sky, and even the Descendants of Pitch stopped to watch what was happening.

Pitch Black was hovering in the air and was sending an enormous wave of Nightmare Sand towards an opponent the Descendants couldn't see. For a moment he seemed to succeed in what he was doing, then there was an explosion of ice that spread up the Nightmare Sand, causing it to explode like dark fireworks.

The Descendants of Pitch retreated into the woods, but Nigel could only stare at the display as Sally's soft voice came through his ear.

"Sally to Nigel. The Sandman has been taken down. Over"

Nigel stared up into the sky as he tried to work out what was said, surely it wasn't true. The ear piece microphone hanging by his open mouth. He couldn't believe it, surely that wasn't true.

"Nigel? Nigel Smith are you still there? Over." Jason's voice came through the ear piece, having not heard what Sally said.

Nigel couldn't bring himself to give the affirmative, all he could say was.

"The Sandman's down."

"What?"

"The Sandman's down."

"That's impossible!" Spluttered Jason from Claire's house. "The Sandman can't be-."

"He is. Over"

Jason stopped and stroked his beard, thinking.

"We will get you re-enforcements. Jason out." He said, then switched off the microphone and turned to Samson, who was already busy on the laptop.

Samson was preparing for a speech through the combined power of Dream Sand, radio waves and the internet. He had come to the same conclusion as Jason, the teeth were one thing, but only the Sandman and his Descendants can spread dreams.

"My fellow Descendants of Sandman. We have just received word that the Sandman has fallen. It is a terrible thing, but we cannot mourn, because although he is gone, his work still needs to be done. I need you to band together and take up his mantle. Create dreams of the Guardians and have your fellow Branch members chase away the fear. I know I am asking a lot, but we are united by a common cause. Because the Sandman's job, just became ours. Good luck."

Samson stopped broadcasting and turned to the others. Despite his passionate speech, his face was grave.

"There aren't enough of us." He said, "We won't be able to keep it up for long." He had a right to be worried. Out of a population of seven billion, there were two hundred Descendants of Sandman, and about fifty of them were either too old or too young to be fighting.

"It's better than nothing." Said Claire, handing Samson a cup of coffee. Despite the heat Samson downed it in one.

"I need to join them."

Jason nodded. "Understandable, good luck."

Samson made for the door and Alexander clapped him a little sleepily on the shoulder. They'd been taking it in turns to sleep and watch, Alexander had just woken up in time to see Samson off.


	34. ROTG Part 4

**Okay, a review.**

**geminiofwattpad, not really your spirit OC profiles, more their Descendants. If you want me to come up with how your character's Descendants would operate, then you can PM me your OC's details, approx age, backstory, appearance and powers, that sort of thing. I can't say how long it will take me to do it, but I'll send you the profile first, and if we both like it I'll post it here.**

**Now, to the story!**

Back in Burgess Sally had received the message and had already left to meet up with the nearby Branch's Descendant of Sandman. That Branch was heading to Burgess along with nearly every Branch in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, New England, New Jersey and Michigan. With another three from Canada.

10 Branches waited on the outskirts of the town, with their Descendants of Sandman working together to deliver dreams. It wouldn't last long, a day at the most and they couldn't get to everyone, but it was better than nothing.

All through Saturday afternoon and evening nothing much happened, so the Branches caught up on some much needed sleep, food, practice and medical attention. Every now and again the earth moving Descendants of Bunnymund would check the Tunnels, to make sure things were clear for Easter.

The loss of the Sandman hit everyone hard, and they didn't want belief to go down any further than it already had. HOG never seemed to count when it came to believer numbers until it came to the crunch. Only because HOG still believed was there still a chance for the Sandman to return.

The night before Easter Sunday a shout went up from Alexander Banks.

"Nightmares in the Tunnels!"

All around the world Descendants of Bunnymund, whether they could move earth or not, went down into the Tunnels.

Billy followed them down and was immediately greeted by the whinnies of Nightmares, rushing through at great speed and crushing the eggs struggling to make it to the surface.

Without hesitation Billy went in with his boomerangs, hitting the Nightmare's hard.

"We're barely holding them off!" Came the cry and despite their furious fighting Billy had to agree. There were so many of them! There had to be at least twenty Nightmares to each Descendant, so roughly 4000 Nightmares.

Billy's boomerang sung through the Tunnel, and occasionally he or one of his fellow Descendants caught glimpses of the Guardians. Whether or not the Guardians knew they were there was another matter.

Billy stood off the side after an unknown amount of time, feeling close to shattered. The Nightmares didn't seem to have lessened in number despite all of their effort.

_Come on Billy, your old man would kill ya fer slackin' off like this._

Almost as if on cue.

"Osbourne! Get moving!" Alexander had joined the fight not too long ago, and was taking the role of army leader.

"Sir!"

Despite the best efforts of the Guardians and the Descendants of Bunnymund, not a single egg or basket made it up top.

The near exhausted Descendants of Bunnymund went back to their Branches to pass on the news.

"We did everything we could." Billy reported as dawn broke, "but we couldn't stop it."

There was a discontented rumble throughout the camp, but there was nothing to be done. There were no eggs this Easter.

Even more worrying were that the Descendants of Sandman were flagging. Sending dreams was a difficult task was anyone who wasn't the Sandman and it took several Descendants to form one.

The Guardians had lost Easter and now they were beginning to lose dreams. They were also losing teeth with there still being no tooth fairies. While HOG didn't require belief to get their powers, they still didn't want their ancestors to disappear. It would destroy the balance they fought so hard to protect.

Sunday evening came around and the Descendants of Pitch made another appearance.

It was a Branch from New Jersey who spotted them first. The shout went up and the Branches in Burgess scrambled for their weapons.

Each Branch banded together and faced off a pack of Descendants of Pitch. The Burgess Branch found themselves facing the group Nigel faced earlier.

The two groups faced off, 3 to 6 and the leader narrowed his eyes when he saw Nigel.

"You don't give up, do you?"

"I can say the same thing about you." Replied Nigel, extending his swords. Billy pulled his boomerangs out of the holsters at his waist and Tina pulled out _Baza_.

"Attack!" cried the Descendant of Pitch leader, and both sides charged at each other.

Tina attacked from the air, darting around the increasingly frustrated Descendants of Pitch. She jabbed with _Baza_ and disappeared in a blur.

Billy jumped around, flinging and catching his throwing boomerang while clubbing and blocking with his other.

Nigel was a whirlwind of sword blades and the Descendants of Pitch were struggling to keep up.

However, the Descendants of Pitch weren't slouches. They used Nightmare Sand to try and snag Tina in mid flight and catch Billy's boomerangs. They couldn't catch Nigel though, the middle age swordsman having more experience than anyone else present.

The tipping point appeared with the Nightmares.

Nightmares swarmed from all over town, taking both groups of Descendants by surprise. Anyone in the air got knocked to the ground and everyone else to stop and anchor themselves, lest they get knocked down as well.

"What the hell is going on?!" Cried Billy, using the jagged part of his clubbing boomerang to anchor himself to the ground.

"How are we supposed to know?!" Groaned Tina from her position on the ground, holding onto Nigel.

After a minute the Nightmare's lessened and HOG could get up to fight them. Now it was even harder to hold off the Descendants of Pitch as they now had to deal with Nightmares attacking.

The Descendants of Sandman had by this point stopped sending out dreams, some having collapsed from the strain. The strongest were still conscious, but without their partners, there wasn't much they could do.

Things were starting to turn in favour of the Descendants of Pitch.

Golden light flared up from the centre of Burgess, catching the Descendants by surprise. The golden light shone off Tina's wings and caused the Descendants of Pitch to pale slightly. That kind of colour could only mean one thing.

Almost as one, the Branches of HOG in Burgess attacked with renewed force. The Sandman was back, they could win this.

Back with the Descendants of Sandman, those that were still conscious either saw or heard that Sandman was back, and was sending dreams throughout the entire globe. If anyone had ever doubted his power, they weren't now.

Dinosaurs made of sand walked the streets, sea life, great birds and mythical creatures graced the skies. The remaining Descendants of Sandman added to the mix, it may have been small in comparison to the ex Star Captain, but every contribution mattered.

Back on the outskirts of Burgess the leader of the Descendants of Pitch was hit with the butt of Nigel's sword and fell to the ground, his sand blade disappearing. Nigel pressed the advantage and held his blade against the Descendant of Pitch's throat.

The others noticed that their leader was down and came to sensible conclusion. Retreat.

The leader scowled and looked up at the Burgess Branch.

"You'll regret this." He snarled. His hand shot up and released a cloud of black sand, causing the three present members of the Burgess Branch to turn and cough to avoid the sand.

When it had faded, the Descendant of Pitch was gone.

The Descendants of Sandman returned to their Branches and the patrol's remained in place for a few days, but an order came from the Heads. This episode was over, now we have to look for Descendant's of Jack Frost.


	35. FoF Descendant View Part 1

**Okay, a lot to explain before we get started. First of all, this is basically me taking the basic story from someone else's story and writing it from a Descendant POV, with permission of course. The story in question is 'Friend or Foe' by MysteriousSherlock, I would recommend reading her story first so you can understand what's going to happen in this one. Her story takes place in a primarily film verse, instead of my combined film/book verse, so a few changes to the overall lore have been changed just for this story, it takes place in the FoF universe, so it fits with that, it that made any sense. It also takes place about five or six years after the end of Don't Fear the Reaper.**

**To not take up too much space, I'll explain things one chapter at a time. This time, Jamie's relationships.  
In FoF Jamie has a kid, and had a relationship with someone else, my retcon for this? Jackie being a workaholic was a bit much, so they split up on good terms.**

I padded through my kitchen, not really bothering to be all that quiet. Jamie didn't live here anymore, so it was just me and Taboo.

I went to the fridge and poured myself a glass of juice. I'd just had another nightmare, third one this week. I knew from experience that going back to sleep immediately wouldn't help. So now I was planning on going for a walk.

It was late, probably around midnight or the small hours, so no one was going to be around, I could live without getting dressed.

So in a pair of button up pyjamas and bare feet, I left the flat through the window. I hadn't even bothered with my glasses, I knew the town like the back of my hand.

Taboo had opted to stay behind, so I pulled up a pillar of ice to lower me to the ground, landed, and began walking.

The cold didn't bother me, and I loved the feeling crunchy sensation of snow between my toes. One bonus of having ice powers, anyone else would get frostbite doing this.

I could feel a familiar feeling in the air, meaning that Jack was still in the area. Maybe I should go say hi.

Then he'd wonder why I was up so late, and I'd have to tell him about the nightmares. He didn't think I got them anymore, and I didn't like him worrying about me. Never mind the fact I was in my early thirties now, I swear he still thought I was fourteen sometimes. Nah, I'll wait until the morning.

I walked out into the street, relishing in the quiet.

A black shadow crossed my vision.

I froze in place, and turned to face it. The shadow was gone, but another quickly crossed my vision and I could identify it. Even without my glasses I'd know that shape anywhere.

I clenched my fist and felt ice crawl across it. Nightmares.

I hadn't seen the hellish horses in six years, and I'd hoped that they wouldn't bother anyone for a few more years. Looks like that was unfounded.

I used my powers to get onto the roofs, and I scanned the area. One or two wasn't a cause for concern. More than five, and I'd have to let HOG know.

From my lofty position I could see several more Nightmares. Eight to be precise, heading for the orphanage.

I frowned, on one hand that could be expected, a lot of those kids came from broken homes, the amount of bad dreams in that building must be irresistible. However, eight Nightmares heading in one direction is never a good thing.

I let the snow solidify and wrap around my feet, forming horizontal blades on the soles. I jumped and landed on a bridge of ice, skating towards the Nightmares. I had to be careful, if they noticed me there was no guarantee that I'd be able to fight them off.

I got closer and landed on a nearby roof, ducking behind a chimney. Looking around it I felt my heart thud harder in my chest. Not eight, _twelve_.

Twelve Nightmares circling the orphanage. Four of them stood guard over the various entrances, while eight condensed down into streams of sand and entered the building through the brickwork.

Movement caught my eye and once I'd squinted I could see someone crawling across the roof, their blonde hair shining in the moonlight. Whoever it was was quite old, seventeen, eighteen perhaps, so it was likely that they couldn't see the Nightmares. No one at that age believed, and they certainly weren't a Descendant of a Guardian, I'd know about them if they were. They were probably just running away from that place, I didn't blame them.

One part of me wanted to charge in, guns blazing as it were. However that would only attract unwanted attention, I could handle the four outside, but I doubted I could handle all twelve of them. No, I needed backup.

I turned and began to skate towards the houses of my fellow Branch members.

I rounded them up as quickly as I could, which was still a while. Three of them lived in Burgess, but Billy lived way out in the next town. The four other Descendants followed me, cold, sleepy, irritated but still concerned back to the orphanage. Nigel was easily the slowest, as he had to rely on my ice to get around quickly, and he was wearing a pair of normal ice skates.

Billy was running as fast as he could, which was still pretty fast considering that he was a Descendant of Bunnymund, and the rabbit nature really helped his speed.

Tina flew high above me, sleepily scanning the area for Nightmares as her dragonfly like wings became a blur in the night air.

Sally was travelling right beside me on a platform of golden sand, keeping one eye on the ground and one eye on our destination, the orphanage.

Billy scrambled up a drainpipe as the rest of us landed, scanning the area around the orphanage.

Where there wasn't a single Nightmare to be found.

The others groaned, but before anyone could complain about my bad eyesight Billy held up a finger, his ears twitching.

We all stopped talking and looked at him, confused. Before we could say anything Billy was off, running and leaping across the rooftops.

Nigel just sighed. "You lot go, I'm too old for this."

I had to agree, he'd turned seventy this year, he was planning on retiring from duty with HOG soon, just becoming a normal Descendant rather than a serving one.

As much as we didn't want to, the rest of us nodded and followed the Descendant of Bunnymund from the air.

We followed Billy to the woods and landed when we saw what he was staring at.

In a wide circle were large patches of frozen black sand, pretty recent as well from what I could see.

"We just missed them." I said, bending down and poking the frozen sand, getting a read on how fresh it was. "Sand was frozen about two minutes ago."

Something caught my eye, so I leaned closer to look and squinted. I could see some footprints beyond the frozen black sand, one bare foot which barely dented the surface of the snow and one shoed which sunk in deep. So it was probably Jack who had dealt with the Nightmares. As for the booted person, I had no idea, it wasn't any of the Guardians, beyond that was anyone's guess.

Billy sniffed the air. Being a Descendant of Bunnymund meant that he had stronger senses than most, only matched by the Descendants of Lupine.

"Probably Jack." He said with a mildly thick Australian accent. "Hard to say with all that sand around, it's masking the scent."

"Or maybe your nose isn't what it was." Said Tina cuttingly and Billy opened his mouth, ready to argue.

"That's enough." I said, quickly seeing that this was going to get out of hand. Nigel was technically the leader of the Burgess Branch, but since I was a Head, I was the default leader in his absence.

"We're all tired." I added, "I'll let the other Heads know about this, but other than that it seems to have been dealt with. So let's just go home."

Billy and Tina glared at each other, but seeing me and Sally looking at them disapprovingly, they let it go.

"See you in the morning." Said Tina to me before taking off, her dragonfly like wings refracting the moonlight. Billy and Sally also left, leaving me to assess the area.

Why had there been Nightmares here? Why now? After six years? I rubbed an arm across my eyes, suppressing a yawn. Those were questions that had to wait, I could feel from the air that Jack was no longer in Burgess, so it's not as if I could ask him.

With a sigh I went home, planning on contacting Alexander, who would probably be awake by now.


	36. Fof Descendant View Part 2

**Hiya! As promised, another small change to make this fit with FoF. Given the Guardians origins in this universe, the Descendants origins change, it's actually easier, as it's made clear that each Guardian was human and had a family, excluding Pitch. Pitch was a self formed spirit in this universe, so his Descendants came out from an overextension of his power. Other Descendants were helped into existence by MiM, who is infinity more powerful in this universe than how I see him in my story universe, when he saw how Pitch's Descendants were being used.**

**Now, on with the story.**

I was woken up a couple of hours later by Taboo roaring in my ear.

_"Get up!"_

I jolted awake and glared at my ice tiger, who didn't look even a tiny bit ashamed.

"Really Taboo?" I groaned and squinted at the clock, its red digits looking blurry to my vision. "It's two in the morning."

_"Look outside you idiot!"_

Frowning I got out of bed, my bad leg still complaining slightly and limped over to the window.

Shining in dark sky were the Northern Lights.

I swore and ran to my drawers, pulling on anything that passed as clothing. I ran a brush through my dark hair, putting it up in a ponytail and shoving on my glasses, blinking as I was finally able to see properly. I then hopped around to get my shoes on, trying to do up the laces while standing on one leg. I grabbed my communication device from my bedside table and shoved it into my jeans pocket along with my keys, all the while cursing under my breath. Why this time of night? Why couldn't emergencies happen at a reasonable time of day?

I pulled on my hoodie, which Taboo hopped into the hood of. Deciding to not bother with the door I unlocked the window and jumped out of it, using ice to catch me.

I landed and began skating back towards the lake, the pretty lights of doom shining above me.

Most would stop and admire them, but I doubted I had that kind of time. Unlike most, I knew what seeing the Northern Lights this far south meant. Something was up with the Guardians, and if trouble was making its way to the Guardians, chances were that trouble would head towards us as well.

I reached the lake and flew behind the rocks on the far side, easily finding the entrance to the base by the purple flower that was stubbornly pushing its way through the snow.

I tapped my foot on the ground beside the flower and skated down the Tunnel that formed. After a few tense minutes of hard skating I slowed to halt at the exit. We'd upgraded our security in the past years, and now I needed to identify myself before entering the base. In theory I didn't have to, but I'd have to deal with the alarm, and I was too tired to bother with it.

I tapped the exit and a touch panel, about the size of my hand seemed to grow out of the wall. I pressed my hand against it and my palm was scanned.

**_"Recognised. Jacqueline Davies."_**

The panel disappeared and the exit dissolved, revealing the Departure Cavern.

I ignored it and made my way to the Council Chamber, where Alexander, Tracey and Harry were waiting.

"Still waiting on Lily and Claire?" I asked as I entered, making a bee line for my seat.

"'Fraid so." Said Alexander, speaking with a thick Australian accent. "Looks like it's not you that's last for once."

"Haha." I said as I sat down on the cushioned, pale blue seat, Taboo leaping out of my hood and settling beside me at normal size. Tracey was opposite me in a grey chair, which was rare, with Alexander in his dark green chair next to her. On my right was a yellow chair which was occupied by Harry, and on the other side of that chair was an empty purple one. Opposite the purple chair was an empty red chair.

No one sat at the head of the table. It was a symbolic thing, because we had the same level of power there was no one leader, therefore no one sat at the head of the table.

Behind each chair hung tapestries bearing the symbol of our group of Descendants. For example behind me was a pale blue, dark blue and white tapestry bearing an eight sided snowflake. We'd upgraded slightly, although behind the tapestries you'll be able to see where the symbols had been carved into the wall.

Behind the head of the table hung a tapestry that was green, blue, purple, yellow and red, with threads of grey and silver, and a silver boar against a new moon in the middle. That was our logo. The Guardians had their ornate G, we had a pig.

I wasn't quite sure how long we were waiting, but eventually Alexander gave the missing pair a call, to find out they'd both been asleep. I couldn't get on their case, because I'd done the same, and that it was late in Cape Town and Wales, however I could understand why Jason got so annoyed when he was alive. People often said that it was the stress of dealing with me that did him in, and I couldn't deny that. He and I never got on, and I'll admit, I missed our arguments sometimes. Sometimes.

Less than quarter of an hour later Claire flew in and settled in the purple chair, and was quickly followed by a sheepish looking Lily. She was quite slim, with very dark hair and blue eyes with a round face. Descendants of North and Descendants of Jack Frost tended to look similar, the obvious difference being powers.

"Okay, now we're all here." Said Tracey, taking charge. "We've all seen the lights, but the question remains. Why would they be set off?"

"It's possible it was those Nightmares I saw a couple of hours ago." I said, fighting back a yawn. Getting up less than fifteen minutes ago and sitting next to Harry was not the best of ideas.

"Nightmares?!" Cried Lily in alarm.

"Yes." Responded Alexander calmly. "According to Jackie, twelve of them were seen in Burgess." Alexander turned back to me. "I thought you said that Jack Frost had already dealt with them?"

"I did, but obviously that's not just it, if the lights have been activated."

"Before we start talking in circles." Said Claire, "How about we actually ask them?"

Everyone's heads turned to me and I struggled not to sigh. I was HOG's emissary to the Guardians if you will. I was the only one who actually got along with them, and didn't start bowing and scraping when I saw them. We'd never have done this less than a decade ago, relations between us had improved so much since Jack joined the Guardians.

I opened a drawer by my chair and pulled out a communication device that was linked to an identical one at the North Pole. I placed it on the table and hit call.

The camera at the back whirred into life and extended itself to face me as a blue light appeared. After about thirty seconds North appeared in the light.

"Jackie, good to see you."

"Good to see you too North. Sadly this isn't a social call."

"I guessed as much." Sighed North. "You saw the lights?"

"They were hard to miss. What's going on?"

"Nightmares were sighted in Burgess, we're trying to work out why."

"So, you know about as much as we do."

"Sadly. We've established that someone must be ordering them, and that it's unlikely to be Pitch."

I nodded, Pitch wouldn't be showing his ugly mug until I was long dust.

"We've been considering his Descendants." Added North, to which I shook my head.

"Unlikely. They're not as powerful as Pitch. And it would have taken over sixty of them to control that many Nightmares, I'd have seen them."

North frowned, but didn't ask any further.

I thought for a second. "What about Lupine?"

Both North and Tracey shook their heads.

"Lupine doesn't have that kind of power, and I assume his Descendants don't either?" Said North

I looked to Tracey, who nodded in confirmation.

"No, they don't."

North tapped his chin with his finger.

"What about the Descendants of the Nightmare Hunters?"

"Possible." I admitted. "We've never had that much contact with them, so we don't know how much power they have over them. So it's possible that a few have gone rogue, but we won't be able to confirm it."

North sighed, presumably at a loss now.

"Okay, we'll call you if we get anything."

"Same here." With that the call was dropped.

_"Well, that was useless."_ Commented Taboo from her position on top of the table.

"That was pointless." Said Lily, having not heard Taboo. Out of everyone in the room, only I could understand her.

"Agreed." I said, putting the communication device back in the drawer. "So what now?"

"What we did last time the lights went off." Said Alexander, and Claire nodded. Those two however were the only two who knew what that meant.

"What, sorry?" I asked.

"Contact Branches and tell them to be on high alert."

"You do that." Said Tracey standing up. "I'll go to my pack. We'll let you know if anything happens."

With that Tracey left, and we organised who would alert which Branch.

**I would like to point out that the conversation with North took place after Tara had already left with Jack. I think I've got each instance timed so HOG doesn't show up during the actual narrated story, especially since Tara is mortal, the Guardians would take care to make sure she didn't learn about Descendants at this point.**


	37. Fof Descendant View Part 3

**I can't think of any note that would be relevant to this chapter, so instead I'll be thanking a follower! Thanks to AngetianPrincess18 for following, hope you're enjoying this!** **Can't really say story for this one, as this is a mix of stories around the same person. Even then, not always!**

I had taken the opportunity to get some sleep, when my phone went off.

Nothing had happened, so I decided to take it here. Looking at the caller ID I saw that is was Jamie.

"Hey."

_"Hey."_ He replied. _"Listen, have you seen anything odd?"_

"Define odd, and remember who you're talking to."

Jamie chuckled. _"Good point. Apparently last night a girl went missing from the orphanage."_

"Don't blame them." I muttered, I'd heard some not too pleasant things about that place, I was amazed that it was still open. "Do you know who?"

_"Tara Lumen, one of my patients from a few years ago, you remember?"_

I nodded. "Yeah, I remember. Sweet girl. Although I don't blame her for running away."

_"You haven't seen her then?"_

"Nope, sorry." I debated whether or not to mention the Nightmares.

_"I saw the lights as well, anything your end?"_

"A lot of Nightmare activity last night, too many to be Descendants." I said. "Thinking about it, there were quite a few around the orphanage. What time did she go missing?"

_"No idea. The news isn't saying, although I bet the police will be round."_

"Good luck with handling them."

_"Thanks, good luck your end as well. Don't die on me."_

"Not planning on it." I responded with a smile. "And don't you do anything stupid."

_"I'll try. The sword's in the attic if you're wondering."_

"Let's hope it stays there."

_"Haven't had much practice recently..."_

"Jamie..." I said warningly. Him fighting was not worth joking about!

_"Calm down, I was joking! I haven't had time to train lately, I'm probably really rusty."_

"How about we do some training when this is all over."

_"Deal. See you later."_

"Bye."

I hung up and drummed my pale fingers on the table. Tara had gone missing last night, she lived in the orphanage and that was where Nightmares had been seen. Thinking about it I might have seen her on the roof last night. Did she have anything to do with it?

I wasn't sure. I'd seen her in the shop many times, and we'd talked a few times, but I could hardly say I knew the girl. She seemed to be in the same situation I was in when I was fourteen, no friends and bullied at school, except she took it a lot better than I ever did. Could she be a Descendant of a non-Guardian? But why would so many Nightmares take an interest in a lone Descendant? It didn't make sense.

"Earth to Jackie." Said Harry, waving a hand in front of my face. "Anything we should know?"

I blinked and jerked back slightly, before shaking my head. "Don't think so. No."

Nothing much happened for the rest of the day. Nightmares had been spotted around Ayers rock, so Alexander had sprung into action, barking orders through his communication device and the ancient radio, getting nearby Branches to the area.

At what was by my watch about half past seven, I got a message from my Branch.

Nigel's face appeared in my communication device, dressed in armour and holding one of his swords.

"Nightmares, by Jamie's house."

Something in my stomach froze. No, not Jamie. He could defend himself without a doubt, but against Nightmares, when he was so rusty with a sword.

"Then get over there and help him!"

"There's a lot of them."

My initial response was to head there myself, then I stopped. This was early days, and could be the first of many attacks. As much as I hated to admit it, I was needed here.

"I'll send re-enforcements, go!"

Nigel faded and pulled up the Branch list on the laptop, trying to find the nearest one. I found it in New Jersey and contacted them, but quickly found that they were dealing with Descendants of Pitch. That was bad, wherever Pitch's Descendants were active, it meant that Pitch was probably leading them.

I got my Branch re-enforcements from a recently formed Branch in New York State, and sent the Maine Branch down to help New Jersey. After a while got a report saying that the Nightmares had been fought off, with a bit of help from Jamie and Jack.

Word got to me from the Branch in New Jersey; they'd fought off the Descendants of Pitch with minor injuries. The Maine Branch had gone home for now, leaving the New Jersey Branch to recuperate.

I nodded to myself as I read the reports and looked at the others. "Should we tell the Guardians?"

Claire shook her head. "No, it was one attack by Descendants of Pitch, that doesn't mean anything. Only if they all attack at once, then we contact the Guardians."

I nodded, and we hunkered down again.


	38. FoF Descendant View Part 4

**Explanation for this chapter-how Pitch works.**

**In Friend or Foe Pitch became so weak after the end of ROTG he shouldn't have popped up again for another thousand years. Reasons to why this didn't happen I will not say here, it's actually a MASSIVE spoiler for Friend or Foe, so go read it first!  
Although, how I make it fit? It kinda happened the same way, except Don't Fear the Reaper, for Pitch, was a legitimate plan and a way to test how strong he was, whether or not he could take on the Guardians like that. The answer was no of course, so he waited another six years or so before trying again.**

We got more reports of Nightmares, but thankfully no more Descendants of Pitch. So far New Jersey was the only one to be affected.

Most of the Nightmare attacks occurred around the Burgess area. The re-enforcements stayed to help them keep an eye on things, but we were getting odd reports. Figures had been spotted fighting the Nightmares, but once the Nightmares had been dealt with, they disappeared into the night. None of us knew what to make of it.

After hunkering down in my chair for some sleep, I got one of my more frequent nightmares.

Nightmares themselves showed up, charging and snorting through a wildfire. Where was the wildfire?

Burgess of course.

In my dream the woods near Burgess was on fire, and I was stuck in the middle of it. Blistered and burnt corpses of people I knew were dead appeared, their mouths moving. I couldn't hear them over the flames and the whinnies of the Nightmares, but I could guess.

"Your fault." They mouthed. "It's all your fault."

I curled up, trying to block it all out, but it wouldn't work.

"Leave me alone!"

My eyes shot open and I scanned the room. Everything was okay, nothing was on fire, there were no Nightmares, and no corpses after revenge.

"Jackie?"

My eyes zeroed in on Harry, who was leaning around his laptop, concerned. I lifted my head off the table, where I must have fallen forward.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine." I assured, waving my hand. Taboo snorted and I gave her glare.

Across the table Alexander was barking orders to a Branch, and I gave Lily a quizzical look.

"Nightmare's and Descendants of Pitch are attacking various Branches in Australia." She explained in a Welsh accent.

I felt my face pale slightly. "Descendants of Pitch?"

"Yes." Confirmed Claire as she tapped away at her laptop. "I've got a few in Europe."

I nodded, feeling my stomach sink. The Descendants of Pitch were attacking in several places at once. That could only mean Pitch was back.

It didn't make sense, last time was enough to see him off for another 1000 years. Surely that could only happen with the Direct Bloodline Rule, but his Descendants weren't close enough genetically for that to work.

I pulled out the communication device and called North.

North's face looked paler than normal, and for moment I forgot why I was calling.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He waved away my concern worryingly wearily. "How about you?"

"Fine, I've got some news though."

"Oh?"

"The Descendants of Pitch are acting in a co-ordinated manner across several continents. That only happens if Pitch is leading them."

North nodded gravely, as if the news didn't surprise him.

"We know, he's been using the Direct Bloodline Rule."

Harry shot me a confused look. I'm guessing he hadn't got to that file yet.

"How? His Descendants aren't close enough genetically anymore."

North took a deep breath, as though he didn't want to say.

"...We believe that he conceived a child nineteen years ago. Before he was defeated."

I blinked in surprise. "The little... Wow." There were no words for my surprise and sudden nausea, although Taboo's sudden gagging noises summed it up nicely. "So he's drawing power from some poor kid."

"It is, possible that his child is allied with him." Said North, almost reluctantly.

"Possible, yes." I mused. "But unless he or she is allied with the other Descendants of Pitch or is obviously allied with Pitch then there's no way of really knowing."

"I suppose not..." North seemed to be deep in thought.

"Anything you want to say?" I asked, worried by the usually larger than life man's quietness.

"Hmmm? No, that's it."

I wasn't convinced, but I decided to let the matter drop. "Okay then, Jackie out."

As soon as I dropped the call Harry was asking me a question.

"What is the Direct Bloodline Rule?"

I tapped the table, trying to remember the full description from the file.

"It's when an immortal can draw power from someone who is of a direct relation to them, usually there's a telepathic link between them. In this case Pitch appears to have, sired a child and is drawing power from them."

Harry's face summed up my thought exactly. That was sick.

Alexander leaned into the middle of the table, having finished what he needed to.

"Look, unless we actually come across this child, we should leave this to the Guardians. We have no idea if this child is a Descendant or not, so it's not our business."

Lily and Harry looked like they wanted to argue, but for once I agreed with Alexander.

"Yeah, Immortals deal with immortals and Descendants deal with Descendants. That's the general rule. While this child is not immortal, it is still immortal business."

One look at Claire showed that she agreed with me, Lily and Harry were already outvoted.

"In other news." Added Claire. "More and more Branches are being attacked. I'm considering sending out an order for at least one member of each Branch member to be awake and in armour. What do you think?"

Alexander nodded. "A good idea, we've already had some casualties."

"What kind of casualties?" I asked, the New Jersey Branch had only mentioned bruises and a few cuts, nothing serious.

"A couple are unconscious, a few with concussion. Nothing serious so far." Alexander tapped the table nervously.

"In that case." Said Lily, "I think we should send out that alert."

Harry nodded. "Agreed."

"Yeah, let's get the alert out." I said, and in unison we all went to our various methods of communication to send out the message.


	39. FoF Descendant View Part 5

**Somewhat of an explanation at the end, otherwise it would spoil this chapter.**

Across the next day and half was when the Descendants of Pitch really attacked. For some reason they appeared to avoid Burgess, but they attacked everywhere else, usually accompanied by a handful of Nightmares.

We were scrambling to keep order and to keep Branches from getting destroyed by sending re-enforcements. However, there was only so much we could do.

Our first death came from a Branch in India. Harry got the report, because it was a Descendant of Sandman had died. She had succumbed to contamination, and Harry was devastated.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Take a break."

Claire patted his other shoulder and nodded, not having to say anything. Harry nodded in thanks and left, and I could see his eyes shining.

For the Descendants of Sandman, the prospect of death is higher than anyone else due to contamination, making them the bravest of all of us. Normally also the toughest, but Harry was relatively new, so he was still getting used to how easy it was for his kind of Descendants to die.

While Harry was gone I got an alert from the Branches in Burgess, they had engaged Nightmares that had surrounded the lake, but they were being very difficult to kill. They weren't even fighting, just kicking them away. Apparently it was like they were fighting something else.

I tapped the keyboard, wondering the best course of action. From what I'd been told there were a lot of Nightmares, more than we'd seen in Burgess since the Battle of Burgess nineteen years ago. This time we weren't holding them back. From the sounds of things, they might be fighting an immortal, which made it not our problem. This wouldn't have bothered me a few years ago, but now...

Making a decision I called Nigel.

"Get out of there. They aren't doing anything to you."

"Are you sure Jackie?" Asked Nigel. "The fact they are here..."

"If they attack you, then return fire, since they aren't return to your posts."

Nigel hesitated. I didn't want to use my authority on one of my oldest friends, but now I had to.

"That's an order, Nigel."

Nigel nodded, recognising that I hadn't wanted to say that. "Sir." The hologram flickered off.

Harry came back, a little puffy eyed, but otherwise okay.

Several hours later I had a report saying that the Nightmares had gone, and then a warning siren went off.

**_"Intruder alert. Intruder alert."_** Went the defensive system.

All five of us shot out of our seats and Claire barked to the system.

"Identify."

**_"Intruder unknown. Five individuals."_**

"Descendants?"

**_"Affirmative."_**

Without any hesitation Alexander barked. "Lock down Records Room and Council Chamber."

**_"Please identify."_**

"Gah! DHB175"

**_"Recognised. Alexander Banks. Initiating lockdown." _**

There was a loud clanking noise as steel shutters were lowered over the double doors leading to the Chamber. Silence descended and the Council Chamber was filled with the sound of our breathing. We were all scared and Taboo growled uneasily beside me.

"Excuse me? Hello?"

A clear, female, French accented voice suddenly came through the re-enforced doors. The voice was a little crackly, like it was being transmitted through a megaphone.

"We are not your enemies. We are the Descendants of the Nightmare Hunters. Samhain, Jack O'Lantern, Nocturne, April Fool and Daniel Moon." Came the voice again. "I am Sophia, Descendant of Nocturne."

All five of us looked at each other. We'd all read the files, and we knew who they were talking about, but we had no idea that their Descendants worked together like we did.

And them coming to us could only mean trouble.

"If you could please open the door, then we could discuss the current predicament and figure out a way to sort this out."

Sophia's voice was interrupted by another, louder, male voice. "Just open up already!"

"Barry. Enough." Cut through another, calmer voice, again male. "We can't force them."

"Let them in."

We all turned to look at Harry.

"We should, their ancestors fight the Nightmares. It's likely that they don't want any more Nightmares in the world."

I nodded. "Agreed." As much as it dented my pride, it needed to be said. "But just to hear what they have to say." I added, I wasn't quite so willing to accept help.

"A vote." Said Lily. "All those in favour of letting them into the Council Chamber?"

All of us raised our hands.

"A unanimous decision." Commented Claire.

Alexander gave the instruction to remove the lockdown on the Council Chamber, and the shutters disappeared.

The doors opened by some invisible force and revealed the five strangers on our doorstep. Two women and three men, each one of them wearing a cloak. The first woman was tall and dark, with dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin. She wore simple but elegant black shirt and trousers, with delicate make up. It was difficult to pinpoint her age, but I guessed that she was about late twenties. Her cloak was black and spotted with silver, with silver bird foot prints around the edge and making up the clasp.

The other woman was definitely younger, possibly in her early twenties. She also had black hair, but instead of wearing it long, she had hers cut short into a pixie cut, with a fringe that hung just a little too far into her green eyes. Her skin was pale, not as pale as mine, but still pretty pale, to the point where it contrasted her faded black Final Fantasy Seven shirt. A reference I only got because Billy had made me play it. In fact this woman was dressed a lot like a Shinra soldier.

Her cloak was dark grey and patterned with silver bat wings, which shone when they caught the light.

The oldest man had a shock of red hair that had streaks of grey with piercing green eyes. He wasn't the tallest, that went to the elegant woman, but he was close. He was wearing an orange button up shirt and jeans, with a burnt orange cloak. His symbols were in gold and in the shape of flames.

By contrast the younger man had a shock of black hair that hung long into his eyes. He was pale, almost as pale as me and appeared to be in his teens, which surprised me. He was dressed entirely in black, including his cloak, which had silver scythes around the edge.

The final man looked to be about my age with blonde hair and brown eyes. He wore a rather battered pair of jeans and trainers, with a purple t-shirt sporting the Rolling Stones logo. His cloak first looked white, but when it caught the light it went all sorts of different colours, like an opal stone. Golden, round bells adorned the edges of this man's cloak.

The two groups looked at each other, trying to work out exactly what to say. At the same time Claire and the elegant looked woman stepped forward.

"Bonjour." Said the woman with the same accent as before, marking her as Sophia.

"Hello." Said Claire, nodding her greetings.

"A pleasure. As you may have guessed, I am Sophia, Descendant of Nocturne. This is Samantha, Descendant of Samhain." Sophia pointed to the gamer girl, who grinned and waved.

"This is Barry, Descendant of April Fool."

The guy in the white cloak beamed as his name was mentioned.

"Leonardo, Descendant of Jack O'Lantern."

The orange cloak nodded, a small smile on his face.

"And Marty, Descendant of Daniel Moon."

Marty barely even seemed to care that his name had been mentioned and Sophia sighed.

"Honestly Marty, try to be polite for once, please!"

After a second Marty nodded at us. "'Lo."

That was probably the most that we were going to get out of him.

Claire however seemed unfazed by the unsociable greeting and started introducing us.

"I am Claire, Descendant of Toothiana. This is Alexander, Descendant of Bunnymund, Lily Descendant of North, Harry Descendant of Sandman, and Jackie Descendant of Jack Frost."

We all nodded and smiled as our names were called.

"Excellent." Said Leonardo, "Now, I assume you've noticed the increase in Nightmare activity?"

"Oh just get to the point Leo." Groaned Barry, folding his arms.

"I will if you don't interrupt me." Leonardo replied tersely, "As I was saying, we have been trying to combat them with our group of Descendants, but have found that we do not have the man power. Have you had similar issues?"

All five of us looked at each other, unsure whether to actually admit to that. Personally I didn't want to, we didn't know these people, they could be waiting for a chance to... do something? I'll admit I didn't have much, but I still didn't think we should say.

Which is why Taboo let out a growl as Lily began to answer, just as unwilling to share as me.

Lily opened her mouth, but instead of speaking she turned to me.

"Am I going to get mauled if I start talking?"

"No."

_"Yes."_

I sent Taboo a glare. "Taboo!"

_"What, you want to get these guys involved about as much as I do. They barged straight into the base for crying out loud!"_

"The tiger has a point."

Everyone jumped at Marty's statement, and I stared at the Descendant of Death.

"Y-you can hear her?"

"Yes." Marty seemed confused. "Why, can no one else?"

"Just me, and immortals oddly."

Marty frowned, but shrugged. "Interesting."

I had a feeling there was more to it than that, but the boy didn't seem keen to share.

"Anyway." Continued Lily, "before I got interrupted by a tiger, I was about to say that yes, we have had problems for the past week or so."

Leonardo nodded. "Sounds about right. How about we join forces, just this once?"

Alexander shrugged. "Sure, we have space at the table."

I sent him a look, to which he sighed, "Think about this from a strategic view-."

Alexander never got to finish, as Taboo grew to full size and jumped onto the table, letting out a full scale snarl.

The newcomers backed off, with Leonardo's hands suddenly filling with fire.

I felt the breath catch in my throat and stumbled backwards, falling over my chair and landing on my back on the floor. The chair fell over with me, landing with a smack right next to me.

I really, really hated fire.

_"Jackie!"_ Taboo cried, suddenly no longer caring about the newcomers, just concerned about me.

_"It was the fire wasn't it?"_ She asked, jumping down and rubbing her head into my chest. I was breathing heavily from the shock, but overall I was okay.

"You alright down there Jackie?" Asked Harry, back to his more jokey self.

"Yep, lovely view down here." I said, pushing off what had happened with a joke. By the door I could hear someone hitting their forehead.

"I'm an idiot! Sorry about that, I should have known that Descendants of Frost wouldn't like the heat." Said Leonardo.

"It's fine." I said, standing up. Taboo stuck her head under my arm to help me.

"Honestly Taboo, I'm fine." I said, giving the tiger a playful shove. She flicked her tail and gave me a look that said, 'sure.'

"Now that that bit of drama's over." Said Samantha, clapping her hands together. "Shall we get started?"

**And so, the Descendants of the Nightmare Hunters, or more accurate, the leaders of the HNH-Human Nightmare Hunters. Once again, if you read Friend or Foe, you get what each symbol means, but I know that Barry's might still seem odd, so I'll explain. The bells are supposed to be like bells on a Jesters hat.**

**That's all for now, see you next time!**


	40. FoF Descendant View Part 6

**This might be the last explain thing. Daniel Moon in the FoF universe is the Grim Reaper, so in this universes context, Jackie would have helped him rather than Mortimer. I realise that the two stories don't really line up, as in FoF Pitch is surprised to see Death exists while in DFtR he actively looked for him, but hey, I can't make everything fit perfectly!**

We compared where our groups of Descendants were stationed and got in contact with them, telling them to meet the nearest other group. Thankfully there was a lull in activity, but we couldn't tell how long it would last.

We'd barely had anything in the 16 hours that the other Descendant leaders had joined us. There had been word from Tracey, explaining her lack of contact. Nightmares had been attacking them, and it was all they could do to keep ahead of them.

I'd fallen asleep in my seat, having been awake for who knew how long organising everything. I was woken up by a familiar voice crying out in panic.

"Too many Descendants! We need back up!" Rachel cried into the communication device.

My head shot up and looked at the display, there were too many enemies to count in the background.

My eyes widened and I sprung into action, identifying the closest group of HOG and HNH. However the closest was in Scotland, anything closer had already been taken out or scattered.

"Nottingham, I'll try and get the Aberdeen Branch to help. Hold on!"

I added the Aberdeen Branch to the call and waited for them to pick up.

"Come on come on." I was aware of the sounds around me, everyone had a burst of activity trying to strategise with the groups they were in charge of.

Aberdeen weren't picking up.

"No, please!" I tried again, but the call didn't even connect.

Next on the list Cork, but there was no telling how long it would take for them to get there.

A piercing scream shot through the communication device, causing eleven heads to turn towards it.

"Nottingham Branch?" I asked cautiously. Rachel was no longer in the hologram.

"Nottingham Branch respond. Nottingham!"

I was trying to keep calm, but the Descendants of Jack Frost in that Branch kept on going through my mind. Alice and Rachel Harper, two people I was very close to. I'd known them for eighteen years.

"...Rachel? Alice? Respond damn it!"

_"I'll check the Globe."_

Taboo disappeared to the Records Room, which had had the lockdown lifted. There were a few tense minutes as I didn't get response from either the communication device or Taboo.

_"The light's out. I'm sorry." _Said Taboo as she came back in.

I felt my throat close up and my head bent. There were only two reasons why a light would go out on our Globe. If a Branch disbanded, or if they were all dead. Given the circumstances, it wouldn't be the former, would it?

"Jackie?" asked Alexander, concerned.

"Nottingham's down." Despite myself my voice was cracking.

Harry, astute for once, said. "Go take a quick break, we'll call you if anything happens." That certainly sounded familiar.

I nodded without looking up and left the table. My bad leg almost crumpled beneath from sitting down for so long, but I managed to catch myself on the table. Taboo growling concern and came towards me, but I waved my hand to say I was okay.

In truth, I wanted to be alone, without even Taboo.

I formed an ice cane and hobbled out of the room until the cramp had eased up.

I went where I normally went when I needed to think; the Cavern of the Dead. Except this time I didn't go to Penelope's statue. I went to Alfred's.

He was sculpted as we had known him. A man no longer in his prime, but not ill either. Alfred had been a better Head than me, he had had a certain wisdom to him. Wisdom that I felt I lacked.

"Why?" I asked the statue, as if the man himself could hear me. "Why did you think I could do this old man?"

I looked down at my feet, but continued talking. "I told you then, I'm not a Head, but you insisted. You went as far as nominating me, why? I've just been fumbling through the last eight years, I haven't got a clue what I'm doing."

The sudden loss of Alice and Rachel hit right then. The fact I'd never run a workshop with them, or that I'd never experience Alice's randomness ever again. They were never just people I led, they were my friends, I'd done so much with them. My throat burned, my eyes pricked and my heart ached.

"I'm supposed to lead the other Descendants, but how can I do that if I can't get them help in time?" My voice was cracking.

My head shot up and I stared at Alfred's stone face, tears having frozen to my face.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? PICKING ME!"

I looked back down at my feet, my shoulders shaking. Why did people have to die!?

"He thought you could do it."

I spun to face Marty, who'd just appeared in the entrance.

"Did no one tell you not to sneak up on people?" I asked, trying to sound annoyed to mask the fact I was crying.

"I've heard it."

There was a ghost of a smile of Marty's face. Mine frowned when I realised what he said.

"How would you know what Alfred thought?"

"Descendants of Daniel Moon are, interesting." He said, looking straight at Alfred's statue. "We have power over the dead, mild necromancy if you will, but we can also hear them."

Marty's gaze shifted to me. "Alfred still believes you can do it. You've just lost someone who looked to you as a leader and friend, and that's hard, but you need to keep going."

"That sounds like something he'd say."

"Well, he did say it just now."

Marty cocked his head to the side, as if listening hard. "And... Alice and Rachel say to keep going, and that it wasn't your fault."

Marty's face suddenly twisted in annoyance. "Fine, Alice is telling you to stop being an idiot and snap out of it."

A chuckle rumbled in my throat, making me sound like Taboo for a second. "Sounds like her."

I picked a frozen tear from my face and flicked it away before gazing at Marty curiously.

"So, do you do that for anyone?"

"No, not anyone, but you needed comforting and to get your head together. Other people need you."

I took a deep breath and nodded, picking off the other frozen tears. "Right, mourning later. Now's the time to get to work."

**...And you expected me make sure everyone lived? If you've gotten to this point, then you know I have a sadistic streak towards my main characters.**


	41. FoF Descendant View Part 7

Turned out that was easier said than done.

Eight more Branches were wiped out. Each one had at least one Descendant of Frost. Some were in the original ten, some were newcomers, but each death bit me like a sledge hammer. There hadn't been many of us to begin with, so each loss was catastrophic.

I'd be lying if I said the other Heads weren't affected. Lily and Harry weren't taking it well either. Claire and Alexander were being quiet about it, but I knew them well enough to know that they were devastated.

The other five in the room had had no major casualties, because it seemed that like their ancestors, the Descendants of Pitch simply didn't know that they existed. Even we only had hints and snippets of their existence before now.

What was worse was that when I did manage to snatch some sleep it was fraught with nightmares. Not even Harry could do anything about them, they were that powerful.

Two days before Christmas marked the round about two week point, and we were still going, even after another week this still wasn't over. We'd only left the Council Chamber to use the toilets and get food.

There'd been a pullback of Descendants of Pitch and Nightmares, and while we were initially relieved, we realised that it could mean that something worse on the horizon.

"Descendants of Pitch at Punjam Hy Loo." Said Claire.

At the exact same time Alexander said.

"Descendants of Pitch in the Warren."

The two scrambled to get Branches there. This was one of those rare times when the Guardians world and our world would cross, since Descendants were the ones attacking, we saw it acceptable to get involved. Less than two minutes later the drawer that contained the communication devices to the Guardians was flashing.

I pulled it open and got out the communication device for the Pole, which was the one that was flashing. I picked up the call and North's face appeared in the blue light, the clamour of the Workshop strangely muted.

North opened his mouth to say something, then stopped and looked hard at me.

"I must say, you look terrible."

"It's been a difficult two weeks." I explained, not all too willing to go into it, to which North nodded sagely.

"I expected as much, but you are holding up, yes?"

"We're fine." I said. "What about you?"

"There's trouble at Tooth Palace and the Warren. We're splitting up to go deal with it."

North pinched the bridge of his nose. "I do not wish to ask this of you, but we don't know how many Nightmares we'll be facing, and Pitch has been brutal lately..."

"You're after re-enforcements?" I finished, to which he nodded.

"If you can't spare them, then it does not matter."

I looked over at Claire and Alexander, who were typing furiously and barking commands into the radio microphones and their communication devices.

"I think re-enforcements are on their way." I said, deciding not to add that we were sending them before he told us.

North nodded again, relief on his face. "Thank you very much." With that he disappeared from the hologram.

I looked back to my laptop, and saw something that made my blood run cold.

A written note from my Branch, saying that there were loads of Descendants of Pitch and Nightmares on the outskirts of Burgess.

"Descendants and Nightmares in Burgess!" I cried, already scanning through the nearest Branches that we could afford to send. We already had the New York Branch there, but given what was written I doubted that it would be enough.

"How many?" Asked Samantha, who hadn't had much to do in the last few days.

"Too many." I said, easily reading between the lines on the message.

I continued checking through Branches in my due restriction, the closest to Burgess was Canada, and I began contacting them. New Jersey had been one of the Branches that went down and Michigan was being sent to Punjam Hy Loo. Down the table the other Descendants had sprung into action, getting their groups from what sounded like the rest of North America.

Within minutes we'd gotten a group about a hundred strong down to Burgess. The Descendants of Pitch weren't going to know what hit them.

During this, I got a call.

I was too busy trying to sort out Branches, so I had to let go to voicemail.

Jamie's voice came out of my phone.

_"Jackie, I really hope the reason you're not picking up is because you're doing Head stuff, and you're not in trouble. Thought I should tell you, there are loads of Nightmares in Burgess, easily as many as there were nineteen years ago."_

Jamie's breath seemed to catch in his throat for a second, then he continued, his voice strong.

_"They've got Christopher, me Sophie and her fiancé are going after them. Hope you get this, stay safe."_

I felt sick and grabbed the phone, dialling just as he hung up.

"Jamie Bennett are you out of your mind?! Get the hell out of there!"

_"Not happening. They've got my son, Jackie. You can't order me around either." _

"Jamie-!"

_"I can handle them."_

"Have you at least got your sword?"

_"...No."_

In the background I could hear an unfamiliar male voice ask _"sword?"_ but I ignored it.

"Jamie, get out of there! Please!"

_"No. Like I said, you can't order me around."_

With that Jamie hung up.

"You idiot Bennett!" I yelled at the phone, not like he could hear me.

"What's going on?" Asked Leonardo.

I looked down the table, trying to suppress a shudder as I faced the fire user.

"My ex boyfriend seems to think he can take on a horde of Nightmares on his own and unarmed, because they have his son." I said, my teeth gritted in annoyance and worry.

"Is your ex insane?" Cried Samantha. "That's a one way ticket to death!"

"I am fully aware of that, but he's too stubborn for his own good sometimes."

I turned back to the laptop and sent out the warning. Non Descendants were involved.

"Quick question." Said Samantha as I typed. "Is his son yours as well?"

I spluttered in shock and Taboo growled in displeasure at Samantha was implying. "No! No, he isn't!"

Samantha held her hands up in surrender. "Sooorry, just curious."

Sophia sighed and gave Samantha a light tap on the head. "You shouldn't barge into other people's business like that!" she chided.

Samantha grumbled but didn't say anything, instead glaring at Barry, who was shaking with silent laughter.

I tuned them out and continued typing, making sure the full situation got through.

I wanted to be out there too, my home town was in danger. It seemed wrong for me to sit down here, safe underground while my Branch risked their lives, the other Heads would probably let me as well, they'd understand. However the deaths of the other Descendants of Frost had really gotten to me, I would just be a liability because I'd be too upset to fight properly.

All I could do now was sit back and hope that everyone survived.

More reports came in. The Northern Lights had been sighted, but when I tried to contact North, I got nothing. I tried each of the Guardians communication devices, and none of them picked up.

The Branches that Alexander and Claire had sent were pulled back, turned out there hadn't been many Descendants of Pitch, and the Guardians were dealing with the small amount of Nightmares. It had been a diversion, to keep us away from Burgess.

We were beginning to panic until we got word from Burgess, the Guardians and the Nightmare Hunters had just arrived. They were okay.

All we Heads could do was sit back and pray.

**That phone conversation took place after the one Jamie had in FoF. Okay? Okay.**


	42. FoF Descendant View Part 8

Several hours later we got the all clear. The Descendants of Pitch had been pushed back, and the Nightmares had all been neutralised. From reports we'd been told that the Guardians, the Nightmare Hunters, Pitch, Jamie, Sophie and her fiancé, three kids and an unknown immortal had been fighting in the centre of Burgess.

We were still busy, leaving the Descendants in place in case something else happened, but that was unlikely. Tracey had gotten to us saying that she was no longer being attacked, we were working out future alliances with HNH and we had to sort out funerals.

Our losses had been large, nine Branches had been wiped out, each one with at least one Descendant of Jack Frost. We'd lost some members of Tracey's pack and that was about it for losses. Statues for the Cavern of the Dead were already underway.

As we had roughly one hundred Branches, losing nine was quite the loss.

During all this, my phone went off.

I went red as the other nine glared at me and checked the ID. It was Jamie.

"I need to take this." I said, standing up and leaving the room.

I sat down in the Main Cavern and picked up the call.

"Hey."

_"Hey Jackie, sorry for earlier."_

"It's fine, I'm just glad you're okay."

_ "How's things your end?"_

"Not great I'll admit, getting better."

_"Do I want to know?"_

"No, you really don't."

_"Okay, I just wanted to ask, will be free in two days time?"_

"Why two days?"

_"It's Christmas!"_

I smacked my forehead with my hand. How could I have forgotten that? Not to mention I'd missed the annual meeting, I was surprised no one had got on my case about that.

"Ah, right. Sorry, being stuck underground isn't great for your internal clock."

_"So, can you make it? I'm planning a party."_

"Honestly, I don't know. We've got a lot to clean up and get sorted."

_"Jack and the Guardians are coming."_ Jamie added in a slightly sing song voice.

"How the hell did you manage that?" My mind went back to the reports, and I realised why. "Scratch that, I can guess. How are you holding up after that?"

_"Been better, but I'll live. You still haven't answered my question."_

"I don't know Jamie, I'm sorry. I'd love to come, I really would. Tell you what, if I can't make it, you Chris, and anyone else you wants to come can come to my place and I'll so something. Alright?"

_"You don't have to-"_

"I want to. I could do with a party anyway."

_"I never thought I'd hear you say that. Still on to train at some point?"_

"Yeah, whenever we're both free." That wouldn't be a while. The Descendants of Pitch had killed whole Branches, war was in the air.

I looked over my shoulder at the double doors leading to Council Chamber. "I'd better go. Talk to you later?"

_"Yeah, good luck."_

"Thanks, Bye."

I hung up and went back in the Council Chamber, where I got back to talking about the various things that we needed to. After about an hour we got the shock of our lives.

There was a white glow by the head of the table, where no one was sitting. Lily and Claire were the closest, so noticed first, gasping and looking over. We all looked over and watched in confusion and a little awe as a figure formed.

Taboo growled a little uneasily as a rather portly man appeared, dressed in a crisp, white suit, with neatly styled white hair, silver eyes and silver staff topped with a ball of energy.

Lily, who was the newest member and taken the past two weeks harder than most, promptly fainted. The rest of us just stared in barely processed shock.

In front of us was The Man in the Moon.

The Man leaned over at Lily, concern on his face.

_"Oh dear, I didn't know I would have that reaction." _He said, his voice echoing through our minds instead of him actually speaking.

Taboo growled again and glared at her. _Seriously Taboo?_

_"Forgive your friend Jacqueline, as I understand she is suspicious of any stranger."_

My mouth was moving, but only a few strangled noises came out, which sounded a bit like. "Wha..."

The Man coughed and began talking, seeing that higher brain functions seemed to be failing everyone else in the room.

_"I came to tell that a new Guardian has been chosen, and that she was only made a full immortal earlier today. I know that you have files on every immortal, so I'll ask her to come to one of you so you can conduct an interview."_

I suppose that made sense, that was apparently more or less what he'd said to us last time he'd communicated with us. That brought the number of communications between us up to two, not counting when I went to the Pole when HOG had disappeared, again.

The Man turned his gaze to me and a small smile appeared on his face.

_"She'll probably go to you, you knew her before she became immortal."_

I blinked in surprise and my mouth began working again.

"Wha... Who is it?"

The grin widened and a mysterious gleam appeared his eye. _"You'll see."_

With that he disappeared.


	43. FoF Descendant View Part 9

**Spoilers galore for Friend or Foe. If you don't want to be spoiled, then go read the original story!**

Christmas came around and I was rushing around, trying to make sure I had everything.

Even though war had been declared, and we were probably going to be fighting, we decided to let have everyone have time off some point today. In shifts, but it was better than nothing.

We'd decided between us that each Head should get two hours off, and it was my two hours now, so I ran for the Departure Cavern, hoping that I was still in time for Jamie's party.

Taboo and I got through the Tunnel at top speed and practically flew out of the top. I had to swerve to avoid crashing face first into the rock and formed an ice bridge to take me safely down to the lake.

_"...You're late."_

I jumped about a foot in the air, because that wasn't Taboo.

I turned to the far end of the lake to see the Man in the Moon standing there.

"Late for what?" I asked, noticing that it was night time, with the moon hanging high in the sky. I'd almost completely lost track of time.

_"The Guardian Ceremony. You missed it."_ The Man slowly walked towards me. _"It was a few hours ago."_

Taboo was sniffing around the lake. _"Whoa, a lot of scents around here. You'd like a party had taken place here!"_

A party...

I quickly flicked my watch face around so I could see it, having forgotten to check in the mad rush, and saw that it was past midnight. In fact it was coming up to one AM.

"...I've missed it." I said, my shoulders slumping.

_"Jamie should still be up."_ Assured the Man. "_If you run you might catch him before he goes to bed."_

I looked over at the Man. I should be in awe, this is the entity that created all of the immortals. I wouldn't be who I was today without him.

However, right now, all I wanted to do was see my old friend. Just to remind me that the normal world still existed, I just felt tired of my world right now.

"Thanks." I said, nodding to him. Then I shifted the bag on my back and took off running.

It felt so good to run after being stuck down in the base for so long. It had done a number on my fitness and I cursed under my breath as my stiff legs complained. That was going to take so long to get back.

I finally made it to Jamie's house with Taboo loping behind me. I stopped by the gate to see that the lights in the front room were out. The whole house looked asleep.

I let out a sigh and ran to the back of the house, jumping messily over the fence and landing with a crunch in the snow.

I walked fully round the back in the garden and looked up at the windows, and in one of them the light was still on.

I smiled to myself and held out my hand, a snowball forming it. With a flick of my fingers I sent it flying towards the window on the upper floor, where it landed with a satisfying thud and dispersed.

Less than a minute the later the curtains were drawn back and the window was flung open, revealing Jamie in a pair of pyjamas, his messy brown hair flopping into his face.

His eyes quickly found me and widened. "Jackie!"

He looked over his shoulder for a second before calling back down.

"Come in! I'll come down and open the door!"

"Thanks!" I called up, but he had already gone back inside.

Taboo and I jumped back over the fence to make our way to the front. Jamie opened it the same time we reached it, and I began speaking before he could.

"I am, so, so sorry for not making it to the party." I said, and Jamie tried to interrupt.

"Jackie-" However, I was still going.

"I lost track of time, which is easy to do down there and-"

"Jackie-"

"I am so-"

"JACKIE!"

I blinked. "Yeah?"

Jamie shook his head and carefully put his hands on my shoulders. I flinched internally from the heat, but because I'd seen it coming I managed to not let it show.

"I know." Said Jamie. "It's okay, you're busy, I get it. You even said when I called that you might not make it to the party."

"I know, but still..."

"Hey, you got off at, roughly Christmas."

I chuckled. "Roughly."

Jamie also chuckled and stepped back to let me in. "Come in, do want something to drink?"

"Yes please." I said, walking and getting rid of the snow without really thinking about it.

"Okay, I've got some milk." Jamie paused and got a good look at me at the brightly lit hallway. "On second thoughts you look like you could do with something stronger."

"I don't drink Jamie." I reminded him.

"Good point, the Heads would kill you if you came back drunk. How much time have you got off?"

"Two hours." I said, following Jamie to the kitchen as he got out a bottle of milk. Taboo went straight to the living room.

"Not much time."

"Stuff... stuff's happened. We're still fighting."

"Really? The Guardians are all finished their end." He said, handing me a glass filled with milk.

"Yeah, well, we aren't the Guardians." I said with a shrug. I really didn't want to get into what happened.

We walked into Jamie's living room and sat down on the same sofa, Taboo curled around our feet.

"So, how's it been at HOG?"

"Alright. We're alive." I said, taking a sip of the milk.

"Hmm, you're being oddly coy."

"Can we please not talk about work?" I asked, a slight plead in my voice. Jamie frowned, normally I wasn't this upfront that I didn't want to talk about something.

"Something happened, didn't it?"

I shrugged again and looked at my milk, swirling it.

"Alright, talking about something else..." Jamie tapped his fingers on the sofa, seemingly lost for words. Whenever we were together we usually talked about the immortal world, how it was going on either of our ends. We rarely talked about mundane things. That's why it ended up not working out between us, I spent more time with HOG than with my then boyfriend, and I regret it. Ironically it made more of a work-a-holic than before.

"...How's Chris?" I asked, opening up conversation to something we both could talk about.

"Chris is fine. Completely smitten with Tara." Jamie said with a smile.

"Wait, Tara? Tara Lumen?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you said she was missing!"

Jamie gave me an odd look. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

Jamie chuckled and shook his head. "I can't believe it, usually you know everything about what's happening with the Guardians."

Pieces started clicking in my head, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"What have the Guardians got to do with it?"

"Guess." Jamie gave me a mischievous smirk. "I thought you were clever."

"Oi." I batted him lightly on the head, which caused him to laugh.

I shook my head and thought about it, landing on the conclusion.

"No..." I looked at Jamie, disbelief all over my face. "She isn't... Is she?"

Jamie's grin grew wider as he shrugged. "You tell me."

"Tara Lumen, a Guardian?"

"Ding ding ding ding." Went Jamie in a game host fashion. "We have a winner!"

I laughed, and it felt so good to laugh. I'd had little to laugh about that lately.

_"Bad Jackie."_ Quipped Taboo. _"Don't go down that road!"_

"But, Tara Lumen, a Guardian, really?"

"Yep. Isn't it great!?"

"Of course it is. I'm happy for her. She deserves something good."

"Oh, and she's dating Jack."

I started to spit take, but managed to keep the milk in my mouth as I turned to face Jamie.

"Do you want milk all over your living room?" I said once I'd swallowed.

"I'm serious! Tara and Jack are an item now."

"Wow. I didn't see that coming."

"I kinda did." Said Jamie, "But I had the advantage of not being stuck underground."

I grumbled good naturedly and gave him a shove, which he gladly returned. Very quickly there was shoving war on the sofa, and I had to struggle to keep from laughing too hard.

"The kids are asleep upstairs!" Hissed Jamie in protest as we struggled not to laugh too hard.

"Hold on, kids. Plural?" I asked, laughter dying.

Jamie looked a little embarrassed. "Well, it's a long story, but basically I ended up taking in these two girls, Cass and Mel, and I'm considering adopting them."

I smiled a genuine, proud smile. "Good on you. I'm sure they'll be happy. How's Chris taking it?"

"He's fine with it. He's actually been asking me to adopt them."

I smiled again and said. "You're a great dad. They'll love living with you."

"I hope so. I'm kinda nervous."

"It'll be fine. I'm sure."

"Since when you were you the socially competent one?" Asked Jamie, grinning.

"I don't know, it's scary. Must think of something awkward..."

Jamie laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Awkward enough for you?"

I felt my face go a rare colour, red. "Definitely."

I eyed his arm nervously. "How long are you going to keep it there?"

"As long as I feel like."

"R-right."

"Relax, I'm going to do anything." Jamie playfully ruffled my hair, which he knew I hated.

"Uh huh." I said, smoothing my hair back down. My eyes landed on my bag and I remembered what was in it.

"Oh! Almost forgot!"

I began to lean forward to grab my bag, when Taboo, picked it up and passed it to me, seemingly happy to see me in the awkward situation.

I gave her a look as I rummaged through the bag, looking for Jamie's Christmas present.

"Ah ha!" I cried, pulling out a thick rectangle in reindeer patterned paper. "Merry Christmas." I said, passing it to Jamie.

"Of course you'd get me a book." He sighed good naturedly, before carefully opening the wrapping paper.

A book entitled 'Guide to UFO's and other Unexplained Phenomenon' appeared through the paper and Jamie's face split into a grin.

"Oh my God! Are you sure you don't have psychic powers? I was looking at this the other day!" He turned it over in his hands. "It's expensive though, and you don't make that much..."

"Relax." I said. "I may have used a book order at the book shop to get it. We get discounts."

"You sneaky little..." Jamie shook his head, before turning and wrapping his arms around me in a hug.

I let out a very undignified squeak. Both from surprise, a little pain from the body heat and embarrassment.

"Aw." Jamie said, chuckling. "I didn't know you could make such a cute noise."

"Excuse me? I don't do cute."

"Sure you don't."

We sat like that for a moment before;

"Would it kill you to return it?"

"Oh! Right."

I pulled my arms up to wrap around his middle. It was definitely awkward for me, because, while I'm experienced in hugging, it was Jamie I was hugging. Given our history I wasn't sure how to feel about this.

"Okay, I think I've put you through enough awkwardness." Jamie pulled of the hug and we sat back our original positions on the sofa. Suddenly Jamie's face lit up like he remembered something.

"Wait here!" And he was off like a shot.

I looked down at Taboo and we both shrugged.

Jamie came tearing back in, carrying a small, blue present. He stopped by the sofa and handed it to me before sitting down.

"Merry Christmas."

I gave a curious half smile as I opened on end of the parcel, and carefully pulled out the book.

"You are kidding." I gasped, grinning. "You got me the book on Norse mythology I was after! Where did you even find this?!"

"I have my ways." Jamie said with a grin as I examined the rare book from all angles.

"I... I don't know what to say. T-thank you."

"You're welcome Ice Cube."

I felt myself go a deeper red. I hadn't heard call me that in a long time.

I was suddenly got overwhelmed by a sense of calm, relief and nostalgia. Here, the world of HOG, as much as I loved it, couldn't touch me. All the things that had happened seemed far away, like they'd happened to someone else, not the person sitting next to her friend in his living room.

I put the book in my lap and leaned my head on Jamie's warm shoulder. Now it was his turn to blush.

"J-Jackie...?"

"I've missed this." I said softly, silencing him. "I'd almost forgotten that this place existed."

Jamie relaxed under my head. "What happened? You never come back this rattled. Or sentimental."

"...A lot of things. Making me appreciate what I have."

"Hmmm. I'd suggest taking time off, but we both know that isn't possible."

"I know. Thanks though."

"You're welcome."

I closed my eyes, feeling warm and safe. The world around me wasn't going to implode, people weren't getting attacked this second. Everything was fine.

I was soon having some much needed sleep, and for the first time in a long time, I didn't have any nightmares.

**Okay, after this, to close it out, the story will take place after FoF. Since that hasn't been published yet I have been talking with MysteriousSherlock to get the details right, but there shouldn't be any major spoilers.**


	44. FoF Descendant View Aftermath Part 1

**Okay, from here on out I was unsure about publishing, but MysteriousSherlock encouraged me to put it up, so here we go. This will also have me writing Tara, which I hope I did okay.**

**Also once again, spoilers again! If you don't want to be spoiled, go read Friend or Foe!**

Two weeks later saw me in the bookshop, sitting by my table coated in my various art works. Each one of them showed various elemental actions, or things to do with the Guardians, sometimes both. The links weren't always obvious, I suppose you'd have to have my memory to know each link.

For example, there was one of the Antarctic landscape, and one with me with my hood up fighting Paura in the motorway services. Specifically the moment when we locked hands.

Business was slow, so I was sketching a new piece, one for the ones who had fallen.

We'd lost about fifty from HOG alone, and two from Tracey's pack, and each of them were getting a place on the paper. I had photos of each of them and I was drawing them sitting in the Main Cavern, looking relaxed and not as if they had just died.

I hadn't had proper sleep in those two weeks due to nightmares and war preparations, but I was just with it enough to keep my pencil steady.

All Descendants that were eighteen and over had been called in for intensive training in hand to hand combat and weaponry. Most of them were already pretty good, but we were stepping it up. We were already planning raids, and I wasn't sure when we'd stop, probably when the Descendants of Pitch had surrendered. After that we'd probably go back to shaky peace for a few decades, and honestly, I was tired. I could use some peace that lasted for longer than seven years.

The only reason I was sitting here was because we had a message from North that the new Guardian was going to drop by Burgess, and since Burgess was where I was, it made sense that I'd be here. I wanted to be at work rather than in my flat just to keep myself occupied, and not think about the upcoming war. I wasn't doing myself any favours.

I'd been here a few days, but nightmares and the updates and away work were keeping me tired.

The bell above the shop door went and I looked up from my work to see if I was needed.

In walked in Jack and a girl with pale skin, curly blonde hair and golden eyes. She was dressed in jeans and a grey jumper, almost exactly as I remembered. Except I'm pretty sure she didn't have large, white wings before.

Tara Lumen, the new Guardian.

I put my pencil down and stood up. My bad leg was stiff after sitting there for so long, so I had to use the table to ease myself up.

"Hello there, how can I help?" I asked, giving the standard greeting and trying not to sound as exhausted as I felt.

Jack seemed to be almost in shock. No, I looked closer and saw a lot of relief.

"You're okay." He said, and those two words seemed to lift some weight off his shoulders.

"'Course I am." I said with a grin, Jack had probably guessed that something had been up our end. I hadn't managed to contact him to tell him what happened, he never answered his SPARK anyway. "Takes a lot to get rid of me. After nineteen years I thought you'd know that."

Tara was looking between us, clearly confused. "You two know each other?"

Jack flew forward and hovered upside next to me. "Can't you see the family resemblance?"

"You are asking to have snow dumped on top of you." I said, grin widening.

"No way you can make that much snow so quickly." Jack teased.

"How do know I don't keep some stored up there." I asked, pointing up.

"Jackie! You should be helping customers, not messing around with Jack Frost!" Called Tina from the back room.

"Jack is the customer!" I called back. "Can we use the upstairs room?"

"What do you need the upstairs room for?" Tina poked her head around the door and looked at me and Jack, but seemed to miss Tara.

"Head stuff." I said, and Tina sighed.

"Alright, but I find that you two are messing around up there I'll dock your wages."

I smiled and nodded, knowing she'd never actually do it. "Yes ma'am."

Tina smiled and went back to getting stock from the back room, calling to Sally to be on the shop floor in my place.

"Alright you two." I said, moving forward and motioning to the stairs. "Let's head upstairs."

Jack righted himself, but Tara had become distracted by my artwork, as she often did whenever I'd seen her in the shop.

"So you were drawing things to do with the Guardians the whole time." She said softly.

I looked back at my table to see that she was looking at a popular piece of mine, that I'd had to make copies of. 'Palace of Wonder' was painting of the outside of North's Workshop.

"Yeah, why do you think I didn't do what most adults did, and told you to keep believing."

Tara's head shot up. "You can see me?"

"I have a lot of contacts. I know what happened, and I knew you were coming."

"North and Jamie told you." Said Jack, smirking.

"Still contacts."

"... I really love your work." Said Tara, looking a little embarrassed. "I never said it, especially 'Entrance to Spring'."

I nodded and smiled, that piece was the entrance to Bunnymund's Warren.

"So, you two know each other as well." Said Jack, pleased. "I won't have to waste introducing you."

"Anyway." I said, clapping my hands together. "I know why you're here, so let's head upstairs" I was glad that Tara had finally come, although I knew after this it was back to the war.


	45. FoF Descendant View Aftermath Part 2

**Another major spoiler coming up! Read Friend or Foe if you don't want to be spoiled!**

I led the way up the staff only stairs, and up into the break room.

It had a sink and kettle, for cups of tea, coffee and in my case fruit juice. Squashy sofas sat facing each other in front of the sink and a coffee table sat between them. On the table was a notebook and a pen was in my pocket, in preparation for this meeting.

"Tea, coffee, fruit juice?" I offered to the pair. I knew Jack was as fond of hot drinks as me, but I wasn't sure what Tara would like.

"Um, fruit juice please, if that's not any trouble?" Said Tara, while Jack raised his hand, indicating that he didn't want anything.

"Of course it's not a problem." I said, filling going to the fridge and getting the bottle out. "Sorry if it's a little cold than you expect when you get it."

"Why would it be cold?" Tara asked.

"Haven't you told her Jack?" I asked as I got a mug out.

"I've told her the basics, but I haven't told her about who you are." Said Jack, "I thought you'd want to explain."

I rolled my eyes and sighed in mock annoyance.

"Okay then, basically I'm Jack's Descendant, and therefore I have ice powers."

Tara's eyes widened. "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, quite 'ice." I replied with a grin.

Tara groaned and my grin widened as Jack shook his head. "That was terrible."

"Sorry, couldn't resist."

I finished pouring two glasses and placed them on the coffee table, the glass cloudy with a bit of frost as the liquid reacted to Jackie's power.

"Okay then, to business." I sat down on one sofa and Jack and Tara sat on the other, from the way Tara was leaning on Jack's arm, I could see that they were together.

I smiled and picked up the notebook and pulled the pen out of my pocket, flicking to clean page.

"Nice pen." Commented Jack, "Is it new?"

"Thanks, and yes, it's fairly new."

The pen in question was pale blue in colour, with a pair of silver hands shaking each other around the top and the lid. Down the side in silver curly writing was my name, while on the other side read Forgiveness.

"So, first off, how are you doing? I heard snippets of what happened a couple of weeks ago."

"I'm okay." Said Tara, and I believed her.

"We're okay." Confirmed Jack. "How about you?"

"We're alright. It's been a little hectic, but otherwise okay."

"So." I clicked the pen and wrote in Tara's name, age and physical appearance. "I'm going to need to ask some questions that might seem personal, and it will go on record for any future Heads to read. If there's anything you don't want on there, then just tell me."

Tara nodded. "Okay."

"Right, so, I know your name, unless it's changed since you became immortal?"

"Still the same."

"Okay, age won't have changed, date of becoming immortal?"

"23rd of December 2031."

"Title, if you know it yet."

"Guardian Angel."

"Parents, if you know them." I had been debating asking this one, since I knew that Tara had lived in the orphanage, but I thought it best to cover my bases.

"Maria Gray." Started Tara and I scribbled it down. "And..."

I looked up to see Jack and Tara looking nervously at each other.

"You don't have to say if you don't want to. Although it would help in finding Descendants in the future."

"That's unlikely." Said Jack darkly, and I frowned in confusion.

Tara took a deep breath and said. "My, father, is Pitch Black."

I blinked in surprise, and lots of things suddenly made sense. Tara went missing around the same time Nightmares were more active, and Pitch got stronger, meaning he'd been drawing power from her for eighteen years. Pitch wasn't exactly one for family either, and any mortal woman who bore an immortal's child didn't survive long after childbirth, which explained why Tara had been in an orphanage.

"Okay." I said as calmly as I could, "Do we have to worry about a telepathic link?"

"No. It disappeared when I became immortal."

"Okay." I looked up to see Tara looking nervous. "No one's going to judge you for that. We can't help who our parents are."

"It's not that. Can I ask something?"

"Go ahead."

"Does that make me a Descendant of Pitch?"

I should've seen that coming. In response I shook my head with a small smile.

"No. How the Descendants of Pitch came to be is unknown, but only someone with similar powers to Pitch and have a family history of having those powers are Descendants. You don't count."

Tara nodded, relaxing back into the sofa.

"Centre?"

"Friendship."

"Abilities?"

"Um, I can fly, I have a necklace that can teleport me to my friends if the need me, and I can sense peoples relationships."

I paused and looked up from my notebook. "Can you elaborate?"

"Well, I can sense how people think about each other. For example I knew that you and Jack were close friends, and distantly related when I first saw you today. That kind of thing."

"Hmm, interesting." I said, jotting it down. "Could be useful strategically."

"Do you have to turn it into how HOG could use it?" Asked Jack, a little exasperated.

"Yes, it's already been discussed. Any of Tara's Descendants would answer to me if we didn't immediately get a Head out of them, which we wouldn't because they'd need time to get used to HOG. So I need to know how to utilise them."

"Right." Jack shook his head while Tara remained silent. I just shrugged and got on with the interview.

"Immortality story?"

Jack and Tara looked at each other. "It's a long one."

"I've got plenty of time."


	46. FoF Descendant View Aftermath Part 3

Tara began to explain the story and I scribbled in the notebook, trying to keep up. It took about an hour and Tara had gotten through most of her coffee.

Once we were done I set the notebook down on the table and stretched my arm, turning my hand to relieve the cramp.

"Are you alright there Jackie?" Asked Jack.

"Yeah, just haven't written for so long since I was in high school."

I took a drink and twiddled the pen in my free hand.

"So, how would you find my... Descendants." Clearly the idea made Tara feel odd.

"We'll track down your mom's family and keep an eye on them, looking for characteristics that would identify them as your Descendants, such as your wings. From there we'll approach them and we'll tell them about HOG. Hopefully we'll be able to identify them before anything, interesting happens." Just something we'll have to add to the long list of things we were already doing.

Jack nodded, while Tara looked confused.

"People don't always react well to people like us, and if we have powers it can be difficult to keep them under control. We don't have the advantage of being invisible."

"Advantage?!" Jack was almost out of his seat in disbelief and anger.

"Advantage in the sense that we don't want to be noticed." I said, giving him a pointed look. I understood his point completely, but HOG had different concerns. The last thing we needed was the general public being aware of our existence.

"Anyway, it'll be interesting for us, we'll be able to track the entire line. So unlike when Jack became a Guardian, we don't have to scramble to find them."

I decided not to mention that they wouldn't have the time to build up a negative reputation either.

"Although, if you have any other information regarding your mother, it would be really useful."

Tara shook her head. "Sorry, you may have to ask Eros for that."

I pulled a face. Eros didn't have the best of reputations among HOG. From past experience I was willing to remain impartial to his Descendants, but not Eros himself.

"I think we'll leave that as a last resort option."

I tapped my pen against my chin, trying to think of anything else.

"You're quite a new immortal, so you might not have discovered all your powers yet. Can you let me if you discover anything?"

"Yeah. Sure." Tara nodded.

I placed my pen on the notebook and stretched again. "Well, I've got nothing else I need to ask. Do you have any more questions?"

"Yeah" this time it was Jack asking. "What happened your end? And don't give me any rubbish, I can see the dark circles under your eyes."

My eyes widened, since when was Jack this observant?

"Are they that obvious?"

"No, I've just gotten good at noticing them lately."

My brows furrowed in confusion, but I decided not to press when I saw Tara's slightly embarrassed expression.

"Not to mention you look exhausted." Finished Jack, and I stifled a sigh if annoyance. Looks like I hadn't been doing as a good a job as I thought.

"Well, I'd been underground for around two weeks, trying to organise Branches. Things went smoothly for the first week, no major casualties."

"What about the second week?" Asked Tara.

I shook my head, feeling my throat starting to burn. I'd done my crying at the funerals, but it looks like I wasn't done mourning.

"...We...we lost nine Branches."

"Lost as in...?"

"Dead. Fifty people are dead."

Tara gasped and Jack looked horrified. I should have stopped there, but my mouth just kept going.

"Each one had at least one Descendant of Frost. I couldn't get them back up in time, I..."

I felt myself lose control and I bent my head, hiding my face in my hands as tears fell and froze to my face.

"Jackie?"

"Sorry. I should be more in control than this..." But my heart hurt. Most of those Descendants I knew personally, knowing that I'd never see them again...

"You knew them, didn't you?" Asked Tara, and I nodded.

"I'm a Head, it's my job to know all of them. And I failed them."

"Don't say that!" Cried Tara. "You probably did everything you could."

"And it wasn't enough. The Descendants of Pitch and the Nightmares attacked too quickly. There were even deaths due to Morte Pavidum."

"What!?" Cried Jack "If Pitch wasn't already out for a millennium I'd kill him!"

"Join the queue." I said dryly, lifting my head out of my hands. Jack was out of his seat in anger, his staff in a white knuckle grip.

"Jackie, you're not immortal."

"Be sure to stick an icicle up his arse for me then."

Jack snorted with laughter and sat back down while Tara looked at me in almost shock.

"I'd never thought you'd say something like that!"

"You've only ever seen my shop persona." I said, smiling now and picking off the frozen tears. "Trust me, I can be pretty violent when I want to."

"I believe you." Said Tara, still clearly a little shell shocked.

"How're the others holding up?" Asked Jack, having met Lily and Harry when they took the Oath.

"Lily and Harry are taking it hard. It's their first major thing as Heads and it hasn't gone great. Alexander and Claire are holding themselves together, but I don't doubt that they've broken down at some point."

Jack looked down at his feet, wiggling his toes nervously.

"Who died? Anyone I know?"

"Alice Harper, her mother and Greg Bergland."

Jack's eyes widened and he gripped his staff tighter. "The bastard..."

"I've made their statues already if you want to see them." I said, leaning back on the sofa. "My shift finishes in a couple of hours."

"That okay with you?" Jack turned to Tara.

"Of course, you knew them."

"I can give a tour of the base while we're there." I offered. It was going to be busy, but it couldn't hurt.

"Only if it's not too much trouble." Replied Tara, and I had to smile a bit.

"You haven't changed much Tara Lumen." I said and Tara went a bit red.

"I'd better get back downstairs." I said, standing up. "See you at the lake later?"


	47. FoF Descendant View Aftermath Part 4

We were still erecting statues when Jack and Tara came in to the Cavern of the Dead. All of the Descendants of Bunnymund and Sandman there pulling them up stopped what they doing and saluted to me and Jack as we entered.

"At ease." I said before Jack could get too uncomfortable. "As you were."

"It's so busy." Commented Tara as she looked around.

"There's a lot more of us down here than there would normally be." I said nonchalantly.

"Why?"

"...We're at war."

"What!?" Jack whirled around to face me and I looked him dead in the eye.

"They killed fifty of us Jack. Fifty! We can't let that slide."

I started walking again, making it clear that the matter was closed. However, Jack wasn't quite ready to let it drop.

"If you're at war, why were you in the shop?"

"I was waiting for Tara to show up. I was still doing my duties when I wasn't in the shop."

Taboo now padded alongside us as I showed Jack and Tara around the Cavern of the Dead, for some reason Marty was down here. Jack frowned in confusion as we passed him.

"Who's he?"

"Marty, Descendant of Daniel Moon."

Both and Jack and Tara blinked in surprise. "They have Descendants?"

"Yes." I said, quickly understanding who they were talking about. "I've had the pleasure of meeting their leaders. We're currently negotiating a future partnership."

_"Providing Leonardo doesn't freak out Jackie with his fire."_

"Taboo!"

_"I'm not the one who fell over her chair when his fingers went alight."_

I gave the tiger a shove as we came to a halt, I felt my half decent mood fade.

We were in front of Alice's statue.

It was made of everlasting ice, the kind that I struggled to make. Alice was holding her rounders bat, forever immortalising the moment when she hit a ball of Nightmare Sand at Pitch. She was grinning her stupid and infectious grin and in her free hand hovered a snowflake.

"She looks nice." Commented Tara as I felt the back of throat burn.

"Yeah." Was all I could say, sounding croaky.

_"She was cool."_ Was all Taboo had to say.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Marty coming over to look, but he didn't seem to have anything to say.

Jack had moved on to Greg Bergland, and once again I was struck by the similarity of the pair. Greg had filled out a bit over six years, so he was no longer as skinny as Jack. However the facial features were almost identical.

"Wow." Said Tara looking over, "You'd think they were brothers."

"I thought the same thing when they met."

"When did that happen?"

"It's a long story." I said, feeling that ache in my heart again.

Taboo nudged Tara in the back gently. _"I don't think she wants to talk about it just yet."_

"He was one of the ones who went down to Morte Pavidum." I said and Tara winced.

"Horrible way to go."

"Yeah."

My eyes went further down the cavern, landing on an old friend.

"I want to show you something."

Before Tara gave a response I was walking down.

I stopped in front of Penelope's statue and looked back at Tara, who had used her wings to make her way down the soft incline.

"Who's that?" She asked, looking up at the black rock.

"This is an old friend of mine; Penelope."

I felt a small gust of wind as Tara took to the air, looking closely at the statue. "She's so young."

I nodded sadly. "Can't have been older than sixteen when she died."

"You mean you don't know?"

"She was never one for talking about who she was. I'm not even entirely sure Penelope was her real name."

"The poor girl..."

"Anyway, the reason I wanted to introduce you was because Penelope is not a Descendant of the Guardians."

"She wasn't?" Tara asked landing, looking confused. I pointed to the lump of black rock above Penelope's free hand.

"She was a Descendant of Pitch, and died a hero to us."

I looked at Tara. "What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter who you're Descended from, or who you're related to, _your_ actions are what defines who you are."

Tara looked from to Penelope and back again. "I don't know if that helps."

I frowned in confusion, then remembered the reports, Tara had landed the final blow, effectively killing Pitch.

"Hey, if it helps, that's not the worst anyone in this room has done."

"Huh?"

I sighed and tapped my foot against the ground, unsure as of what to say.

"What... What you did was incredible. I've fought Pitch in the past, and came out only just alive. No one is going to look down on you for what you did, in fact there will be many who consider you a hero."

If anything, that didn't seem to help.

"I know that you'll feel like you won't deserve it, but it's better than looking back and regretting it. In the long run, you did a good thing."

Tara still didn't look all that convinced.

"Here's something that's helped me. It's like when someone has carved something into the bark of a tree. Yes it hurts, and yes it will scar, and that scar won't get any smaller."

I tilted my head to the side, still looking up at the newly appointed Guardian. "But you will get bigger around it, and after a while, that scar won't seem so big anymore."

Something that Jason once said to me regarding my Centre came to mind. "It's easy for you to forgive others, but it seems to be much harder for you to forgive yourself."

"Reminiscing there Jackie?"

Jack flew over, hovering in the air in front of me and Tara.

I gave him a small smile. "Makes me wonder how old I'm getting, given how many times I seem to wander down memory lane."

"You're not old yet, at least compared to me!"

I looked him up and down, seeing his eighteen year old body. "If you say so Snowman."

"Snowman?" Asked Tara, a little confused from the nickname.

"Frosty the Snowman." I explained, and Tara started laughing. I didn't think it was that funny, but Tara had had a rough month, she needed to get it out.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something small and white flying towards me. Without showing any reaction I caught it with my powers, and sent the snowball back at its source.

Jack let out a surprised shout and almost fell out of the air, catching himself before he could hit the floor.

"You're going to have to do better than that Snowman."

_"And if we're going to start a snowball fight, can we do somewhere else?"_

Jack grinned and flew out of the Cavern of the Dead. Tara flapped her wings and followed him in the air, a grin on her face.

I turned to Taboo, and sighed, opting to walk.

The two of them were waiting for me in the Main Cavern, Jack was hovering in the air, while Tara had landed , still getting used to her wings. It was mainly empty, as everyone else was in the Training Halls. Excluding the Descendants of Sandman.

Two hundred of them were at the far end of the Main Cavern, meditating. However, since the Main Cavern was easily the size of two or three football pitches, we probably weren't going to bother them. Although if one of them was in a mischievous mood I would be willing to be that they might try to join in. I wouldn't put it past a couple of them.

"So..." Said Jack, a grin on his face that I really didn't like. "Has your snow improved?"

"You want me to make it snow?" I asked, folding my arms. "Why don't you do it?"

"Because, I want to see how you're getting on."

"Lazy sod." I muttered, but held my arms out anyway. I just hoped that I could clear this up before the other Heads found out.

The temperature around me dropped and I felt the moisture in the air solidify. Snow was a lot harder to form correctly than ice or frost. I've been able to form snow for a long time, but it can be at different consistencies. Getting it at a specific consistency was the difficult part.

Getting it the right consistency for making and throwing snowballs was particularly difficult.

I closed my eyes and spun my hands, feeling the flurries of snow forming around my fingers. Concentrating hard and with precise fingertip movements I formed snow. When Jack first taught me how to properly make snow it took me an hour to cover the lake's surface. Now it took me less than two minutes to cover the same area with snow.

Ten minutes later and the Main Cavern was coated in the white stuff.

I lowered my arms, which were burning with lactic acid and I felt my bad leg wobble. Taboo shoved her head under my arm to support me as Jackie examined my snow critically.

I felt like I was back in school, having my tests back from being marked.

While Jack was checking the snow Tara was looking at me with her mouth hanging open.

"That was... Wow."

"Learnt from the best." I said, tilting my head towards Jack.

"Jack taught you?"

"Yeah. He stopped when I was about nineteen, not having much else to teach me apparently. We still hung out every now again, but he got busier and I couldn't always make to the lake for my usual practice. What with my new duties as Head."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah, but, nothing lasts forever."

"That's a depressing way of looking at things."

"Comes with being a Descendant."

"What happened to make you like that?"

I shrugged. "Several things. Some happened before I joined HOG."

"The whole 'people don't react well' thing?"

"No, no one outside the people I trusted knew. I was still a nervous wreck about people finding out though, and I was lucky."

"Lucky?"

"Some members of the public do find out, and while we can deal with that, the Descendant on the receiving end comes out... different."

"Is that what I'm going to do to my Descendants?"

"I doubt it, you're a new immortal and Guardian, we should be able to stop the worst from happening. There's no guarantee though."

"I suppose not."

"Hey, don't worry about it." I said. "We're made of stern stuff."

Tara smiled and put her hands in her pockets as we watched Jack assess the snow.

"Nicely done." Said Jack floating back over, "Couldn't have done it better myself."

"Arigato Sensei." I said with a small grin. "Now we're done assessing my snow making skills, how about that snowball fight?"

"No holds barred?" Asked Jack, a grin on his face.

I nodded, grinning, "Just like old times."

"Like old times."

**Not quite the end guys. I couldn't quite let this idea go, so I've got a ten years later section where Tara's Descendants start popping up. I think I'll give it a quick break though. First part of the Ten years later will be up on Monday.**


	48. FoF Meet the Descendant Part 1

**Okay, this bit takes place ten years after the events of FoF and does slip in neatly with MysteriousSherlock's timeline. Again, spoilers ahead, and this is my first proper time of writing Tara. I hope it isn't too bad.**

Here's what I hate about being the 'senior' Head, the fact that everyone expects you to do stuff.

I prefer doing that without being told that I should.

Although this one, I could understand why the others were so hesitant about doing this. With all the new Descendants from the Descendants of Jack Frost becoming known, it was my job to approach them, and tell them who they were, if a Branch hadn't already done that.

Another reason why it was me? This guy was in Pennsylvania, and the Burgess Branch is the only Branch in Pennsylvania, even if they were on different sides of the state. Not to mention that even though Nigel was still alive, he was certainly not fit any more. He had handed the reins for the Branch over to me.

So as a Head, and the leader of the nearest Branch, I could understand why it was me doing this.

I walked up the street, looking for the number that Tracey had told me. Ever since Tara became immortal, we'd been trying to track down her family, and Tracey believed she had found them.

It was a bit complicated, Maria's parents were dead, so they'd had to go with siblings. However, Maria's brother, her older sibling, and his wife had died in a fire about a year before Tara became an immortal. They had had two kids, the youngest was sent to an orphanage, and I'd nearly had a heart attack when I found out who it was. However, she is far too young to be having kids, so I looked to the brother.

He was a good deal older than her, about twenty the night of the fire, so chances were he hadn't been living at home at that point. It was also a bit too complicated getting his sister to live with him, so that's why she was in orphanage. A lot of digging through records and Tracey's pack sniffing around later and we found him.

He had a family, wife, two kids, one he had when he was young, but I'm not going to judge. One of them was almost a spitting image of Tara.

Not to mention, if Tracey's people were to be believed he has great white wings sticking out of his back. If the family wasn't enough, then this was, no other immortal I could think of had white wings. Making him a possible Descendant of Tara Lumen.

Tara, believing she was an orphan (and considering herself one. Who would want Pitch as their dad?) had never found her family, so was along with me. Even if they couldn't see her, I'd thought she'd like to meet them.

I decided to leave Taboo at home, an ice tiger with violent tendencies is not a great thing to have when you're going to new person.

I looked to the young woman walking next to me, her own white wings held aloft. Her blonde hair was shining in the moonlight, and she wearing the same thing I always saw her in whenever I did see her, grey jumper, blouse and jeans.

"Feeling okay?" I asked.

"Nervous. I know they won't see me, but, what if they're awful?"

"Then, there's little we can do about it. I hear the boy's young enough to believe though."

"I guess..."

"I'm sure it'll fine." I smiled at the Guardian of Friendship. "I've done this loads of times. Even if it goes wrong with the parents, the boy might be able to convince them."

"If you're sure..."

"I try to visualise Professor Xavier when I do it." I confessed.

Tara giggled. "The parallels are uncanny."

"At least I'm not bald! Or in a wheelchair."

"Neither would stop you being a badass. From what I hear."

"Badass?" I snorted. "I haven't had a chance to be a badass in a long time."

"You find peace boring?"

"It's relaxing, but I prefer being out in the field, doing something." I shook my head. "Careful what you wish for huh?"

"Yeah." Tara came to stop. "We're here."

The house was nearly identical to every other down the street. White brick, picket fence, that kind of house. Given that he'd been a teenage dad, he'd done pretty well for himself.

I looked at the address on the paper and compared to the address of the house we'd stopped by. This was it.

"Ready?" I asked Tara.

"...No."

"Good, let's go."

I started striding up the path with Tara scrambling to catch up. "Wait!"

I turned as I stopped in front of the door, watching Tara catch up.

"What was that about?"

"Getting you up the path." I said, ringing the doorbell.


	49. FoF Meet the Descendant Part 2

After a few seconds the door opened and I could almost feel Tara's frown.

He was in his late twenties, younger than me. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and if you squinted you could see a similarity in the face shape between him and Tara. Other than that there wasn't much of a likeness.

"Yes?" He asked, only looking at me, of course he couldn't see Tara.

"Are you Thomas Grey?"

"Yes, who wants to know?"

"My name is Jacqueline Davies, I have some information on your aunt, Maria." I decided not to go all out, if I mentioned the boy first he might grow suspicious and slam the door in my face.

Thomas tilted his head to the side. "What about her? She's dead isn't she? I mean she disappeared, so..."

I almost winced at the tone, what with Tara standing right next to me and hearing this.

"Well, I have some news around that. May I come in?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

Thomas held the door open and Tara and I stepped in. The hallway was a tasteful shade of yellow, and the floor was scattered with a couple of school bags and some sports equipment. To our left was a staircase going up to the second floor.

"Sorry, my eldest is a bit of a sports nut, and very messy."

"Not a problem." I said, smiling.

We went into the living room, where the rest of the family was. The two boys and the wife. There was a sofa facing the TV, which the boys were using, and another sofa and an armchair off to the left, also angled to face the TV.

The oldest looked like his mother, dark hair and dark eyes. The youngest however looked so much like a young Tara I almost a double take. There were so course differences, the gender for one, but also the face shape, similar, but not quite the same, a bit squarer.

"Who is this?" Asked the wife calmly.

"This is Mrs Davies."

"Miss, sorry."

"Ah right, Miss Davies, and she knows something about my aunt Maria. The one who went missing years ago."

I'm not sure the wife was actually all that interested, and the boys were too wrapped up in their video game to really care either. However, she managed to try and look interested for Thomas's sake.

"Oh, well, sit down Miss Davies."

"Thank you." I said sitting down on the closest seat. Thomas had decided to take a polite interest, but it was clear that he wasn't sure if he really cared.

"So, you found her?"

"In a way."

"She's dead isn't she?"

"Yes. I'm afraid Miss Maria Grey has been dead for twenty eight years."

Thomas whistled and shrugged. "Figured as much. I assume you know how."

"She died in childbirth at Burgess's Home for the Orphaned, the child went missing ten years ago and is presumed dead. I'm sorry."

Tara looked more than disconcerted at the fact I was talking about her like this, but I couldn't comfort her.

"Wait, Burgess?" Thomas recognised the name, and I nodded.

"Yes, where your sister was sent. I'm sure that was coincidental, as Maria didn't give her name. I only know that from her daughter, who got it from the father, who is not in the picture."

"How did you find all this out?" Asked the wife, Thomas seemed to be still processing the last bit.

"As I said, I knew her daughter. When she went missing I tried to find her family to at least let them know. It wasn't easy, which is why it took so long. I'm sorry."

It wasn't a complete lie, we just did after she became immortal, a time difference of less than two weeks. It wasn't all war stuff we were doing.

Thomas appeared to want to be taking it well. She had died before he knew her, so I guess it was to be expected. However, on the back of this news I had to try and talk to them about their youngest son, and look really insensitive while doing it.

"And now I'm going to be honest. This wasn't the sole reason I came here tonight."

"It isn't?" Asked the wife, her voice a little hard. Wonderful.

"I'm afraid so." I said, trying to make it clear that I knew this wasn't my best idea. "I need to discuss something with your youngest son."

"What?"

"Your youngest is different, yes? He has something that makes him different from anyone else in this room, am I correct?"

Silence fell, even the boys stopped playing their video game.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. Cole is perfectly normal."

"Of course he is." I said, confusing everyone in the room. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong. He's just got something that makes him stand out a little."

"There is nothing." She hissed, her demeanour having completely changed. I'd had experience dealing with the aggressive parent in denial, so I wasn't fazed.

I instead turned to Cole, who suddenly looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

"Why don't we compare, Cole?"

"Compare?" Asked his mother, but my focus was entirely on the boy to my far right.

"I'll show you what's different about me, and you show me what's different about you. Is that okay?"

I think everyone was curious by this point, so there were no verbal objections as Cole nodded his head.

I stood up and held out my open hand palm up. I blew across it and snowflakes floated into the air, dancing around the room.

All four of them just stared at the show and I stood there, occasionally manipulating their flight with a wave of my hand.

After a while the snowflakes melted, and I turned to Cole. "Your turn."

Cole nodded, standing up. I could sense his mother behind me also standing up, maybe to stop him, but he extended his wings anyway.

They were large, easily large enough to lift him off the ground and as white as snow.

I smiled and nodded. I had the right guy, definitely a Descendant.

All too quickly Cole withdrew his wings and sat back down. I also sat down as Cole asked.

"Are you like Professor X?"

"I wish I was that cool." I said chuckling, "Although the point of this isn't all that different."

"That is enough!" Went his mother, making me jump. "You are not going to do anything with my son."

"Ma'am, please."

"I am not putting him danger!"

"This is his choice, not yours!" I said sternly, losing a small fraction of my temper. I also didn't deny the danger comment, which she probably noticed. "And maybe if you let me explain, then your son can come to an informed decision."

"He is nine!"

"It's still his decision. May I continue?"

His mother glared at me for a few moments then said. "Fine."

"Thank you."

I turned back to Cole.

"The people I'm from, we call ourselves the Human Order of Guardians, which makes us sound more exciting then we actually are. We are Descended from a group of people called the Guardians, who you may have heard of."

"Who?" asked Cole.

"Before I tell you, can you tell me if you still believe in the likes of, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, that kind of thing?"

Cole looked down, then back and forth between his brother and his parents.

"...No."

I saw Tara practically deflate next to me.

"Well, that makes my job a little harder. Basically I'm trying to say that they are the Guardians."

I heard his mother snort with disbelief but I kept going. "Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Easter Bunny, Jack Frost and the Guardian Angel. They are real and we are Descended from them."

"Yeah right." Scoffed his brother. "Then why don't I have wings."

"Alan!" Hissed his mother, but we both ignored her.

"It doesn't occur in every child in every generation. It often skips generations. I knew someone who was a Descendant and their twin wasn't. Descendant with a capital 'd' by the way."

"So, who am I Descended from?" Asked Cole.

"The Guardian Angel." I decided to leave the fact that Tara was the Guardian Angel. That would have been hard to swallow and disrespectful to Thomas.

"Okay, what about you?"

"Jack Frost."

"This is all rubbish." Snorted his mother.

"Try telling that to seven hundred people worldwide."

"Seven hundred people believe this sh- rubbish?!"

"Yes, because seven hundred people can either control ice, earth, plants or sand, can fly or can use magic. This is the explanation. We've existed for a thousand years, I think we'd have worked out if we were wrong by now."

"You are a cult!"

I managed to chuckle. "You know, I said the same thing when I first joined. About twenty eight years ago."

"What changed?" Asked Thomas, having recovered. "What convinced you to join them?"

"Because they understood. They understood what it was like to have these abilities with no explanation and the problems they can bring. Sometimes that's all you need."

The three males in the room seemed to understand, but Cole's mother still didn't look happy.

"Why now?" She hissed.

"Because it took this long to find you. Guardian Angel only became a Guardian ten years ago and we had no idea how far the family had spread."

"Have you found any others?" Asked Cole.

"No, you're the first. I can only assume that everyone else is very good at hiding their powers." That was rubbish. As far as we were aware, he was the only one.

"Oh." Cole seemed to deflate.

"As the only one we've found, you'd answer to me. I am Head of the Descendants of Jack Frost, but there's so few of us that I don't mind taking you under my wing as well. Not to mention that my Branch is the closest."

"No! He is not joining you!" His mom was on her feet now, glaring at me.

"And why not? He is safe with us."

"Are you suggesting that he isn't with us?"

"Right now, no I'm not. But as he gets older it's going to be harder to hide those wings properly without advice, and there's another group of Descendants out there who have a prejudice against the Guardian Angel and her Descendants. If he joins us, he'll be safe from them."

"How can you be so sure?!"

"Because if he is attacked while with us it will be a declaration of war, and they aren't ready for that."

While his mom struggled for words I got a piece of paper and a pen out of my pocket and scribbled down my phone number.

"Here." I said, giving it to Cole. "I'm not asking you to make a decision now, you don't have to get involved with us if you don't want to. But feel free to give me a call if you have any more questions. I think I've overstayed my welcome."

"Too right you have!" Snarled his mother. "Get out of my house!"

"Millie, please..." Started Thomas, but I stopped him.

"Millie is right. I've dropped two bombshells on you tonight. I think that's enough." I stood up and started to leave the room. "Have a good evening."


	50. FoF Meet the Descendant Part 3

**REVIEW!**

**Suicide Forest-Tell me about it. I assume it's because a lot of people don't really like fanfics that focus primarily on OC's with not much from the actual Guardians. I'm not usually that bothered because I've gotten used to it, but more is always welcome, especially with some actual feedback. Can't always get what we want... Getting plenty of views though, so I know people are reading this, that's all that really matters.  
**

We got halfway down the street before Tara spoke up.

"That was, interesting."

"It could have gone better." I agreed. "At least I saw myself out this time."

"Wait, people have thrown you out?"

"Yep, it's annoying but understandable. Parents get over protective of kids with odd powers, if they don't disown them completely."

"That's horrible!"

"It's who we are."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"Because I have to be. There are so many sob stories in HOG, you, as bad as this sounds, get used to them."

"All those kids we've missed..."

I stopped in the road and turned to face Tara. "Don't go down that route. You can't be there for every kid, there's six of you, it's almost impossible. Not to mention, Descendant children don't always count. Yes they're children, but they're also Descendants, and you have to learn to take a step back."

"I'm not sure I can."

I sighed. "I'm admittedly the last person to be preaching like this. However, since this is your first Descendant, and your relative, first cousin once removed I think? I don't see why you can't talk to him and teach him once he starts believing."

"You seem very confident that he's going to join you." Tara said as we began walking again.

"I sold it pretty well, and even if he doesn't, I've planted the seed, got him thinking. What if they do exist? That's the first step to believing."

"I can see that."

I reached the Tunnel entrance and turned to Tara.

"Want some ice cream? I've got a tub in the freezer at home."

"Only if it's not too much trouble."

"Of course it isn't! Jamie would love to see you again, and he'll be glad that I'm taking time off. Not to mention Chris, Cass and Mel will be there." As Descendant and immortal relations had improved, I'd found myself becoming friends with Tara. I still tried to keep it work related whenever I saw her, but I saw no harm in doing something like this every now and again. I think Jack was actively encouraging us doing this, which I didn't know whether to be annoyed about or not.

Tara smiled. "You've twisted my arm. Okay, ice cream."

I grinned. "Excellent."

I had intended to spend the evening relaxing, eating ice cream and talking with Tara and Jamie.

I wasn't quite living with Jamie but we'd decided to try again, because with a house full of kids I couldn't keep my work secret, but I came over whenever I could. Not to mention he wanted me to come back here to hear it all gone.

So far it was working, and I think Jamie was just glad to see me actually relaxing instead of constantly fussing over work.

I finished my bowl of ice cream and almost sank into the sofa, Taboo curled on my lap like a house cat.

"I need to do this more often." I said softly.

"You're more of a workaholic than Tooth." Said Tara with a grin.

"I'm not that bad."

"Yes you are." Said Jamie from behind me. I'd already caught him up on tonight's events, and he was willing to let me have the sofa tonight if I needed to.

"Wait until there's another conflict. I don't leave the base."

"I know you don't." Jamie ruffled my hair softly before yawning. "I'm going to bed. You two?"

"I'm staying up for a bit." I decided.

"I might hang around as well." Said Tara, "If that's okay."

"Of course it's okay." Said Jamie. "The Guardians and the Nightmare Hunters are welcome any time. You know that." No kidding, I swear Daniel Moon was in here weekly.

"I know, but..."

"You have to ask anyway." I finished, smiling.

"Well, yeah."

Jamie yawned. "Night you two."

"Night Jamie." I called back, while Tara gave a "Night."

When the bedroom door closed I grinned, having had a silly idea.

"Say Brain, whaddya wanna do tonight?"

Tara got the reference. "The same thing we do every night Pinky." Tara leaned over and picked up the ice cream tub. "Try to eat all the ice cream!"

I laughed and Taboo rumbled on my lap, also amused.

_"Pinky and the Brain. It's Pinky and the Brain."_

"One is a genius, the other's insane." Sang Tara, then looked at me to continue the song.

"Whoa no. I don't sing."

"Have you ever tried?"

"Yes. It sounded like cats dying."

"Ah come on, please?" Tara started doing the puppy dog look, she'd perfected it as well as Jamie.

"They're laboratory mice. Their genes have been spliced." I said in monotone, determined not to actually sing.

"That wasn't singing!"

"No, it was preferable to me actually singing."

"Come on. For me?"

"No."

_"Spoilsport."_

"You've heard me sing!"

_"I've recovered. Your singing voice could be an effective weapon."_

"Oh shut up." I said grumpily while Taboo and Tara laughed.

"Gotta admit, ten years. That's a record in all the time I've been at HOG. The longest peace lasted was seven years."

"And here's to many more." Said Tara, raising her bowl.

I smiled and raised my own bowl. "I can eat to that."

We clinked our bowls and settled back in our very comfortable positions on the sofa.

Almost as if we'd jinxed it my phone started ringing.


	51. FoF Meet the Descendant Part 4

I frowned in confusion, and picked it off the coffee table. No one ever called me on this, and the phone didn't recognise the caller ID.

"Hello?" I went as I picked up.

_"H-hi."_

"Cole? I didn't expect you to get in touch so soon."

_"There's something outside my house, but no one else can see it!"_

Worry flooded my stomach. It could be anything out there.

"Okay, what does it look like?"

_"A black horse. It's got really creepy yellow eyes."_

I froze in place for a second, then started speaking rapidly.

"Okay, keep an eye on it, but don't leave the house. Understand?"

_"Yeah."_

"Good. I'm on my way." I stood up, grabbing my keys. "I'll be in the few minutes."

_"Why? Is it dangerous?"_

"Potentially. Don't make eye contact with it whatever you do."

_"O-okay. See you in a minute."_

"See you." I hung up and pulled on my shoes as I went for the door, Taboo quickly at my heels and dodging one of the girls instrument cases.

"What's going on?" Asked Tara, vaulting over the sofa.

"Nightmare outside Cole's house. I didn't think they'd find him so soon."

"We gotta help him!"

"What do you think I'm doing? Popping to the shops?"

"Sorry. Can I come?"

"You're technically my superior, you tell me." I gave Tara a half smile before leaving the house and sprinting for the lake.

Tara made it to the entrance before me, but I had to open it. I thudded my foot by the flower and disappeared down the Tunnel with Taboo at full size and Tara just behind me.

We exited to the Departure Cavern and immediately went up on an ice pillar to the temporary Tunnel we'd made to get to Cole's house.

We made it through in record time and I skated for Cole's house while Tara took to the air.

There were more Nightmares now, and a Descendant of Pitch giving them orders to surround the house.

"I think that's enough." I said, sliding to stop.

They turned to face me, face turning to a scowl. I vaguely recognised him as Spiky Hair from years ago. He'd bulked out. "Should have known it wouldn't take long for you to show up."

He turned to the Nightmares. "You lot." He pointed at half of them, then turned to me. "Get her."

The Nightmares charged and I rose a barrier to block as Tara cried out.

"Go to Cole. Now!" I yelled at her. "You can defend him even if he can't see you! Taboo, deal with the others!"

"Oh, and the newest Guardian, what a lovely surprise."

Taboo sped off to the back of the house to do what I'd asked and I turned to the three Nightmares coming for me.

I gritted my teeth and shattered the barrier, sending the shards into the Nightmares. The shards of ice halted them, but didn't get rid of them, stronger than usual, great, Spiky Hair had been practicing.

I formed my blades and charged, slashing at their throats and bodies. One disappeared to the wind with an almost direct hit to the throat, the other two just looked annoyed.

They dodged my blades and as I went for one the other bucked me in the chest with a crack, sending me flying across the street.

I narrowly avoided someone's fence and almost cried out as pain spiked across my chest. Both Nightmares came over, but one seemed to grow in size, with streams of sand coming towards me as the other waited patiently.

It was preparing Morte Pavidum.

"Not tonight." I snarled, sending an ice blast into its body. It screamed and backed off, parts of its body frozen as I sent more ice at it, freezing it solid.

I flared my fingers and it shattered, crumbling to pieces.

Spiky Hair glared as I got to my feet, trying not to wince from the pain in my chest.

"Why can't you take a hint?"

"Stubbornness is a family trait." I said, lowering the temperature in the air around me. "I suggest you leave before this ugly."

Frost began to coat the tarmac, which was still warm from the late spring sun. That didn't really matter as Spiky Hair went into a fighting stance.

"You wanna go Descendant of Frost?!"

"I'd rather not, but if you insist." My voice was as cold as the air around me. When he didn't react I moved around, sliding my feet in a typical martial arts fashion, but it could be mistaken for dancing if it wasn't for the loose guarding block.

He shadowed me, covering his part of the street in black sand. This was very open which was concerning, although it was late, and I hoped that Spiky Hair had done his recon and knocked everyone else in the street out.

He flared his arm out and sent a stream of sand my way. I waited until it was almost on me before turned in a tight circle, freezing the sand as it passed by. It curved around the back of my head and shot back towards him, and he had to duck to the avoid it. The icy sand collided with the lamp post behind him, leaving frozen spiky sand stuck to it.

I exhaled calmly and let the nearby air temperature drop even further. Ice crystals formed and joined together to form shapes. Whips, floating spears, dis-embodied legs and finally, my own set of wings appeared, each made of ice.

Without thinking I used my enormous ice wings to rocket into the air, as the whips cracked and the legs hopped over to Spiky Hair. I'd learnt a lot from the Bergland books, and had gotten a lot better with making ice become as fluid as water.

His face paled at the display, but he quickly tried to match me by forming more Nightmares. No, not Nightmares, they didn't have the yellow eyes, they were just horses made from black sand. Yes, there is a difference.

Horses were all he needed, as they charged my various disembodied weapons. Which might not have been his best idea, as they were quickly dispatched.

The sand dropped and I hovered, looking down at the Descendant of Pitch. "I suggest you go home."

"And the boy? Don't deny that we're both here for him." He called up to me, pointing at Cole's house. Glancing over I could see Tara stationed outside his window, which he was looking through with awe.

"I'm here because he asked me to be." I said, narrowing my eyes. "Why are you here?"

"He is a Descendant of the one who killed our ancestor, and he is not under your protection! And you led us right to him!"

I tried not to wince and my eyes narrowed further. "Clearly you didn't get the full report when it happened. The Guardian Angel was not using a weapon that could kill immortals. Pitch is down, but not out."

"It doesn't matter, it still happened! And since mortals cannot begin to compete with immortals, the Descendant will have to do."

"Then you will have to go through me."

"You just want him to join your little, select, club!" He snorted

"What he does is his decision."

"You can't deny that's what you want him to do."

"...Yeah, so he's not in as much danger from the likes of _you_!"

Spiky Hair growled and formed whips of black sand, snapping them towards me.

I pictured what I wanted my wings to do and the ice obeyed, allowing me to dodge. I silently thanked Tara for giving me some pointers as I ducked and dived for Spiky Hair, air practically crackling around me.

His hair began to frost over as I approached. He cracked her whips again and sent one towards me, catching my shoulder.

I hissed in pain and changed direction, forming ice shards as I did so. Flying backwards I shot them towards Spiky Hair.

She tried to catch them with her whips, but I moved them in such a way so that they weren't hit. I made the ice slice through the whips and graze his arms lightly.

Before we got any further the front door of Cole's house burst open and Thomas left it, carrying a shotgun of all things.

I just stared at the weapon as Gary pointed it Spiky Hair, his fingers tight on the trigger. Descendants didn't use guns, it was one of those un written rules, we just didn't.

"...Mr Gray?" I said cautiously as I landed. Spiky Hair was just glaring at him, almost daring Thomas to shoot him. Despite that he looked oddly confident, boosted by fear that even I could tell was coming off Thomas.

"Mr Gray, put it down." I said, my wings disappearing as I landed and walked over to him, my hands out in front. Thomas was practically shaking.

"Y-you s-stay away from my son!"

Spiky Hair looked between the pair of us, glanced up at the window where Cole was and looked around. One combat ready Descendant, one gun wielding father, a Guardian and an ice tiger who was prowling up behind me and splattered with black specks. He didn't seem to like her odds.

"...With pleasure." He hissed, and disappeared into the shadows.

**Okay, I couldn't go this long without a fight scene.**


	52. FoF Meet the Descendant Part 5

Thomas hadn't moved, still pointing the shotgun at where he had been.

"...Mr Gray? He's gone, you can put it down now."

Millie ran out of the house as well, giving me a dirty look as I tried to get through to her husband.

"...Mr Gray?"

"Where'd he go?" He muttered, swinging the muzzle around. "People don't just disappear like that!"

"Welcome to my world." I said softly, and before I knew it Mr Gray had pointed the gun at me.

My breath caught in my throat and my eyes went wide. Taboo growled and prepared to leap.

_Stop! He's not himself!_

_"He's going to shoot you, you idiot!"_

"Mr Gray, just put it down." I said calmly, trying to ignore my rapid heartbeat in my already painful chest.

"H-he came after you showed up today..."

"We were fighting. He is my enemy, I'm sorry he showed up, I didn't know he was going to do that."

"No! You're dangerous!" His finger tightened on the trigger.

"Mr Gray, please. I am not your enemy! I want your son to be safe! I promise you!"

Silence fell as several tense seconds went by and I let the temperature go back up. Thomas stopped shaking quite so much.

"He's gone? For good?"

"For now." I said as Tara landing nearby. "I can't say whether or not he'll be back."

Thomas stood there for another few seconds, before lowering the gun and quickly dropped it.

"Oh God I'm so sorry."

"S'okay. No harm done." In my mind I was a little less calm, but my main question was, why do they own a gun? A shotgun no less!

"This is what you do?" Asked Millie.

"Not regularly, and I promise that if Cole does decide to join us, he will not get involved until he's ready."

Millie's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you can promise that?"

I lifted my eyes to the half moon. "I swear in the name of the Man in the Moon, if Cole joins us I will make sure he will be safe until he comes of age."

Taboo growled uneasily as I made the oath, giving her a quick shake to dislodge the sand at the same time. That kind of oath was a serious one, one that could have disastrous consequences if broken.

Something warm soaked into my sleeve and Nancy gave an uncharacteristic gasp of concern.

"You're bleeding!"

I looked at where Spiky Hair's whip had caught me, and saw that blood was soaking into my hoodie.

"So I am." I said calmly, already feeling the frost cover the injury.

Millie ran forward and grabbed my other arm, trying to drag me back into the house. I struggled not to flinch from the sudden hot bloom on my arm.

"You have to have that checked out! Come inside."

"Ma'am, please, it's fine."

"No! You need to have that checked!"

"Mrs Gray! Please! I am fine!"

"Didn't you get kicked in the chest?" Asked Thomas, and right then I wanted nothing more than to punch him.

"I'm made of stronger stuff than that. So can you please let me do my job?"

"Job or no, you're injured." Said Millie, standing up straight and still not letting go of my arm. "I'm not heartless Miss Davies, you did just save my son. At least come in."

I paused, given how hostile she was to me earlier, this was the last thing I expected. Might as well take advantage of this.

"If I do, are you willing to listen?"

"After that..." Millie paused, then shook her head as if to clear it. "Yes, I think I am."

"Okay, I accept your invitation."

Taboo walked over and I noticed the two parents tense up.

"Ah, yeah, sorry." I turned to Taboo. "Reckon you can change size, I don't want to freak anyone else out."

Taboo grinned mischievously and I knew I should have been more specific as she started to grow in size.

"I mean smaller! Now is not the time for messing around!" I said, putting my head into my hand.

_"Awwwww._ Whined Taboo as she shrank to the size of a house cat. _"But their faces are hilarious!"_

I looked over to see that Mr and Mrs Grey had almost identical looks of confusion and horror.

"Save it for the Descendants of Pitch, not people I'm actually trying to get along with!"

I looked over to Millie. "If you want to revoke that invitation, I completely understand."

Millie's eyelid twitched, but she forced a smile.

"As long as it doesn't rip up the furniture."

I could sense Taboo smile.

_Don't even think about it._

_"Spoilsport."_

"She'll behave." I said, making sure I was glaring at Taboo from the corner of my eyes.

I followed the Gray's back into their home and Tara, Cole and Alan came running down.

"That was so cool!" Cried Cole. "You weren't even scared! You just went in and out and bam bam bam!"

"I wish it was as easy as you're making it sound." I said as we reconvened in the living room.

"Could I learn to do that?"

I saw Millie's face tense as we sat down, but she didn't say anything.

"If you joined us, yes, you will learn how to fight. You won't learn how to use ice, I'm afraid that's my specialty." I said with a smile, "But those wings, if you don't know already, we can teach you how to fly."

"Really!" Looking at Cole's face you'd think Christmas had come early.

"Don't get too excited." I said, I needed to balance this. "The Descendants of Pitch know you exist, and they might not let up for a while. It could get dangerous."

"Could."

"Yes, and while you won't be serving until you're eighteen, and don't try and argue that, it's the rule in the Order." I said when Cole opened his mouth to argue. "I know from personal experience that the Descendants of Pitch are not so picky with age."

"Bring it on!"

"No. That is not the right attitude." I said sternly. "You have little to no combat training, these guys have been training for a large chunk of their lives. If one starts to attack, you run and yell for help."

"I thought you wanted me to join you guys."

"I do, but it wouldn't be fair if I dropped all of this on you once you'd decided to join. I'm still not going to force a decision, but I don't know if the Descendants of Pitch will wait."

I leaned back in the chair, trying not to wince at the pain in my chest. I was going to have to get that seen to. If Jamie was in bed then I'd have to go to the base.

"I can tell you what else won't wait, your injury." Said Millie.

"Please, I'm fine."

"I saw you get struck in the chest by something that sent you flying. I'm not blind Miss Davies."

"I'll get it seen to later." I said, waving it off.

"Can I ask a question?" Asked Cole.

"Go ahead."

"Do I get a tiger too?"

"Er." I looked at Taboo. "No. Taboo, wasn't exactly, planned. No one knows how to recreate that. So no."

"Oh. Do I get to meet my ancestor?"

I looked at Tara out of the corner of my eye. So he hadn't seen her yet, hopefully I could get that to change.

"Yes. She's in this room right now, actually."

"She is! Where?"

"You're not going to see if you don't believe." I said.

"Okay, how do I do that?"

"Well, it's different for everyone, but the way it worked for me was to remember what each Guardian represented, and each time I felt that. The Guardian Angel, as admittedly soppy as this sounds-"

"Hey!" Cried Tara, and Taboo gave her a smirk as I continued talking.

"-is the Guardian of Friendship. So if you visualise that quality, that's the first step."

The rest of the family was watching with baited breath.

"Mr Gray, can you ask that you try too?" I asked, not completely sure whether or not this was a good idea.

"Me? Why?"

"Just, please. I think, I think you need to see her."

Thomas had an odd look on his face, but did as I asked him. The last two shrugged and did the same.

Once they said they had that quality in mind I took a deep breath. This was going to meet some resistance.

"Now, I have to tell you about the Guardian Angel. She has the ability to sense relationships between people, and also has large white wings. Her hair is blonde and curly, and she often wears grey jumpers and jeans."

I gave it a few minutes.

_Tell Tara to say something._

_"Okay. Tara, can you say something?"_

She looked for a moment like she was a deer caught in the headlights, then cleared her throat.

"Er, hi?"


	53. FoF Meet the Descendant Part 6

**Mim- How could I? You're pretty unforgettable. If she has, don't blame me! I'm just the Scribe! If you let them into your place like that they may well scour the place for new information. Jackie I think has more respect as she actually knows, someone else, maybe. Your books will be returned, once the information has been copied, I can already feel the hand cramp.**

Cole was the first to react, his head moving to find the source of the voice.

"Okay, looks like Cole's got it."

Cole opened his eyes, and he saw Tara. His eyes widened as he looked Tara up and down, and then he grinned.

"I see her! I see her!"

Tara blinked, then also smiled. "Hi."

Slowly the rest of the family believed, and they saw Tara. Last was Thomas, and when he looked at Tara, he blinked slowly.

"You, you're Tara?" He said like he didn't quite know how to react. When she nodded he still looked confused, and instead turned to me.

"How come you didn't say?"

"Because, if I had come out saying that Tara was the Guardian Angel, I'd have come across as insensitive at best. But yes, this is your cousin. Tara Lumen, Thomas Gray. Thomas Gray, Tara Lumen."

Tara's face had also gone pale, and she swallowed nervously.

"Hi." She said hoarsely, I could hear the unshed tears in her voice. Tara was the most unassuming person I'd ever met, but even she had her pain, and that pain was evident now.

I decided to try and give them space.

"Excuse me? May I use the bathroom please?" I whispered to Millie as Tara and Thomas were still looking at each other. Nancy nodded and whispered directions, and I left the room as quietly as I could.

I went to the bathroom to keep up appearances, but instead of using the toilet I took assessment of my injuries.

Pulling off my hoodie I saw the frost covered slash on my shoulder, and pulling off my shirt revealed a dark bruise forming on my chest. Okay, maybe Nancy had a point about the chest, it could probably wait though.

There were other bruises waiting to pop up in various places, but that was the worst of the damage. My chest didn't hurt while breathing, so I assumed that it was just bruising, rather than any rib damage.

I went back downstairs to find Tara and Thomas talking quietly in a corner, Nancy and the eldest seemed to be talking about sports, and Cole was waiting for me to come back.

His face lit up when I walked back in the living room. "You're back!"

"Where did you think I'd gone?" I asked with a small smile.

"I dunno." Cole's face lit up even further. "So, how would I meet this Order? Are there meetings? You mentioned combat sessions..."

"Alright, slow down!" I sat, holding my hands out and sitting down in the nearest chair. "If you do decide to join us, you would have to join the nearest Branch, which is mine in Burgess. We can make a Tunnel to the meeting place or you can fly there if you know how."

Cole looked a little upset. "I don't know how to fly."

"That's fine, there are people who can teach you. We can organise that."

"Can you teach me?"

"I can teach you theory, how I fly is a little more complicated than how you and Tara would fly." I continued my little explanation. "As the only Descendant of the Guardian Angel at the moment you don't have a Head yet, therefore you would answer to the Head of the Descendants of Jack Frost, which is me. I am also the Branch leader."

"What happens if I get in trouble?"

"Depends." I said, smiling slightly. "It can range from a telling off to cleaning the meeting hall. You might have a partner in crime though."

"I will?"

"Our Descendant of Bunnymund has a nephew and a young daughter who's also a Descendant. The nephew is called Alex and he's about your age."

"Cool!"

I sighed good naturedly. "The meeting hall's floor is going to have the best clean it's ever had."

"But, it's not just you guys, right?"

"No, there's a lot of us. We meet up a few times a year, and Descendants have Workshops put on by the Heads. I imagine you'll go with the Descendants of Toothiana for now, they are the other set of Descendants with wings. They'll probably teach you to fly."

"Can I join now?!" Asked Cole. "Is there some kind of oath or something?"

"No, you just say you want to join. I'll have to introduce you to the other Heads at some point, but that can wait."

Cole practically jumped out of his seat and ran for me, tackling me into a hug. I held in a hiss of pain as he collided with my sore chest and his abnormally warm body came into contact with my abnormally cold one.

Cole wasn't quite as tactful as he jerked back.

"You're freezing!"

"I control ice and snow. It comes with the powers." I said with a shrug. "And for future reference, please don't do that so suddenly."

"You don't like hugs?"

"Pretty much." I lied, trying to not make it seem personal.

"Why?"

"Urm, kinda personal." I muttered.

Cole looked at me, and looked like he didn't quite believe me. He probably didn't given Tara's power, but was willing to let it slide.

Cole also let out a barely disguised yawn and I realised how late it was.

"I should leave you now." I said standing up. "It's been a long day, you've got my phone number if you have any questions."

"You're leaving? With a serious injury?" Millie looked ready to mother me to death.

"I had a look when I went to the bathroom, it's just bruising. Honest." I said, holding my hands up to try and placate her.

Tara looked over and narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure Jackie? Because if I know you..."

_"She's being honest about her injuries. For once."_

"The amount of love I'm feeling right now from you is overwhelming." I said sarcastically to Taboo.

I caught the confused expressions from every mortal in the room. "Er, because I created Taboo I can understand her, and so can immortals, oddly."

"Has anyone worked that out?" Asked Tara.

"Nope. Maybe a more magician like immortal, but I don't feel like trying to find them." I had a feeling I was speaking an alien language to everyone else in the room. "Anyway, good night everyone."

"Good night Miss Davies." Thomas turned to Tara. "You're welcome back any time."

"Are you sure that's okay?" Asked Tara and I couldn't stop my palm meeting my forehead.

"What?" Asked Tara, annoyed.

"One day you'll learn that when people offer something, it's okay."

Tara sighed. "You're as bad as Bunny."

"In what? That we're both as tactful as a two by four?"

Tara laughed at the comparison. "That sums it up."

I laughed as well and shook my head. "Well, we'll leave you in peace. Good night!"

We finally left their house and I took the Tunnel back to my house as Tara took to the air to head to the Pole.

"Are you certain you're okay Jackie?" Asked Tara before we went our separate ways. I waved away her concern.

"I'll be sore in the morning, but other than that I'll be fine. How about you?"

"I-I'm fine."

I gave her a sympathetic look. "You've finally met some of your blood family, that isn't Pitch. That's got to be difficult to handle."

"I'll be fine. See you later Jackie."

"See you." I said, and Tara disappeared into the night sky.

I looked up at the moon and smiled. "You made the right choice there." I looked back at the house. "I just hope that I can keep that oath, you never know what might happen."

**Okay, this is the last Friend or Foe thing I have, I hope you've enjoyed it, and I highly recommend checking out the original work. MysteriousSherlock, I hope I lived up to your expectation on this, and didn't mess up writing Tara.**

**There will probably be a break for a while, it's not that I have a shortage of One Shots or ideas for one shots, I just don't want to dump them all on here all at once. For those watching Black Sheep, I will have a thing up for Mimic's Descendants up soon, I'm actually waiting on Mimitation Balance to get to the relevant chapter, chapter 7 I think, so until then, be patient! It is a virtue, a boring virtue but a virtue none the less.**


	54. Descendants of Mimic (not my OC)

**So, now that MIMitationBalance has mass posted some chapters, I can get into the profile for the Descendants of Mimic, which is probably the shortest yet. As there's only one documented and not enough time (yet) for any traditions to have been formed, there's not much to say. Anyway, Mimic belongs to MIMitationBalance, be sure to check out her series Mimpossible for more information on the character.  
**

**On another note, nearly 2,000 views on this story, whoot whoot!**

Signature colour: black and white

Signature weapon: None

Symbol: Chinese dragon coiled around balancing scales.

Seems to be able to only copy one specific power, depending on their primary emotion. For example, if the primary emotion is anger, their copy power, or 'mimitation' would be fire. That is currently the only example. Like Mimic they seem to not gain the full power, only approximately half of it.

Also appears to be able to sense, and in some cases be influenced by, other's emotions. Can also invoke emotions in another person upon eye contact, seemingly at will.

Physical characteristics cannot be truly determined, however it is assumed that having rainbow eyes and either black or white streaks would be the defining physical characteristic.


	55. Just a Big Kitty Cat

**Okay, bit of a story behind this one. I was showing my sister some one shots I have, I can't remember which one, and I wanted some feedback. She asked some questions about Taboo and made the suggestion of Taboo and a box, and this one shot was born.**

**And since I made a big deal of this last time, wooo! Over 2,000 views! Thanks guys!**

"Jackie! Are you done in the stock room?" Tina called out, as there were no customers currently.

"Almost!" Jackie called back, unpacking a new set of books from the newly arrived boxes. "What do you want me to do with these boxes?"

"Whatever you feel like. Recycle them if you've got no ideas."

Jackie nodded to herself and started flattening the boxes, until she got to one of the more medium sized ones. An idea flashed across her mind, and she took care not to let Taboo hear it as she smirked. This was going to be funny.

Taboo looked up from her dozing spot, inconveniently in front of the fridge, as Jackie placed something in front of her.

_"Why have you put a box there?"_ Taboo looked right up at where Jackie was.

"You're a cat. Cat's like boxes."

_"Are you kidding me? I'm not some dumb house cat! I do not find cardboard boxes entertaining!"_

"If you're sure. I'll just leave it here then. Go back to dozing." _Like a house cat._

Taboo grumbled and lay her head back on her paws as Jackie went off to do HOG stuff. When she was gone rested her chin on her paws and looked at the box with narrowed, glowing blue eyes.

_"It's just a stupid box. How is that interesting?"_ She settled down again, but the presence of the box kept irritating her.

_"Gah! Get out of my way!"_ Taboo gave the box a shove and it slid across the kitchen, hitting the sink cabinet on the other side of the room.

Now it was out of her way she settled down to continue her nap.

...

_"It's still annoying me!"_

Taboo got up and stormed over to the box, her ice claws making clicking noises on the tile. She looked down into it and growled.

_"It's just a box. Get a grip you melted puddle."_ Taboo growled to herself and turned away.

Then she turned back.

Looking carefully over her shoulders, Taboo shrank slightly and stepped into the box.

_"Hmm, not bad."_ She assessed and she settled down into the box. It was a bit tight, but alright. _"Kinda comfy."_

She lay there for a few minutes, but ended up looking at the lip of the box and gnawing on it a bit.

_"I think I have a better idea for this thing."_

Half an hour later Jamie walked into the kitchen to get a snack, only to see Taboo sitting in the middle of a pile cardboard, that looked like it had been ripped apart and chewed. No, definitely chewed, a piece was Taboo's mouth right now.

She looked up at him, and looked a bit embarrassed as Jamie just stared.

"You know what, I'm not hungry."

He walked out and found Jackie at her desk in their room, making her way through the stack of paperwork. Although, by the way she was giggling, she knew exactly what Taboo was doing.

"Do you want to stop her?" Jamie asked, and Jackie shook her head.

"Not on your life! This is hilarious!" She looked back at Jamie. "Have you got a camera?"

"Yes, why- Oh. I see." The couple had equally evil grins on their faces. "Do you want to do it or shall I?" Jamie asked.

"Taboo will know I'm coming."

"Fine, but if I get mauled..."

"I'll take you down to HOG, mainly because it'll be my fault."

"Okay then."

Taboo knew why they were giggling, and could guess what those photos were, but she didn't do anything until Jackie showed her one.

_"Jackie!"_ She whined and hid her face in her paws out of embarrassment.

"I should bring boxes home more often." Jackie commented with a grin, kneeling on the sofa arm and looking down at Taboo as she groaned.

_"I don't know what came over me."_

"Despite how tough you are, you're just a big kitty cat." Jackie leaned over and scratched behind Taboo's ears, which always made her start purring.

_"Screw you."_ Taboo complained, but bring herself to be mad. She _loved_ being scratched there.

Jackie smirked and handed the photos back to Jamie, who was also grinning as he stood there and leafed through them.

'We have to show these to Jack.' He mouthed, and Jackie nodded.

'And the rest of the Branch.' Jackie added, also mouthing, to which Jamie nodded. Taboo was going to get teased so much.

**...I ship it**

**And now I need to run before Taboo finds me, I don't know how well Descendant Dreamsand will work on her and now is not a good time to find out!**

**Okay, I don't usually do this, but I don't know how well I did, so please leave feedback on this one. I'm usually not good with funny situations or slice of life, so having some indication would be really helpful. So, first time I think I've said this, please review.**


	56. Cute

"I'm bored." Jackie admitted, sighing. There was nothing to do, well, nothing she could do. She'd finished her shift at the bookshop, there was no meeting today, no HOG paperwork for once, it was too light to go to the lake and practice, and any chore that involved water or heat (e.g. most of them) she couldn't do.

Not to say she hadn't tried. She vacuumed and dusted enough to drive both Taboo and Jamie mad with the noise and airbourne dust.

Jamie also didn't need any help on his work for college either, which left Jackie feeling very twitchy. There was _nothing _to do! At this point in her life she wasn't used to not having a list of things to do.

Jamie sighed, looking up from his laptop and at his girlfriend next to him, who had started tapping on the side of the sofa. The sound of tapping was irritating enough, but the small blooms of frost weren't helping. She must really be bored if she was doing that.

"You've got a library, why not read something?"

"I've read them all so many times." Jackie said.

"Well, your sketchbook has been sitting idle for a while, why not pick that up?"

"Can't think of anything."

"Now that's just an excuse. Anyway, thinking of something to draw will give you something to do."

Jackie thought about it, and nodded, leaving to go get the sketchbook from their room.

Taboo let out a sigh that Jamie picked up on.

"She's annoying when she's bored isn't she?" Jamie asked and Taboo nodded.

"I heard that!"

"Doesn't make it less true!" Jamie called back. "And Taboo agrees with me!"

"Traitors." Jackie said as she walked back in, trying to look mock sad by sticking out her bottom lip.

"Sorry, you don't do cute Jackie." Jamie said as he tried not to burst out laughing. "The rest of your face just looks too serious."

_"He's right."_ Taboo agreed. _"Leave the cute stuff to the pros."_ Partially for Jamie's benefit, but also to one up Jackie, Taboo rolled over on her back, curled her front paws up and curled her tail. She then pricked her ears up and made her eyes grow big.

"Awww." Jamie said, and started laughing. "Even the tiger's got you beat Jackie."

Jackie raised her eyebrows as she stepped around the sofa and sat on it, looking down at Taboo on the floor. "You look silly."

_"You're just jealous."_ Taboo prodded. _"I can see into your head. I know you think I'm cute when I do that."_

"Normally you'd hate being called cute."

_"You're missing the point entirely!"_ Taboo rolled back onto her front and flicked her head at Jamie. _"What are we going to with her Jamie?"_

Jamie didn't quite pick on what Taboo said, but somewhat understood when Jackie answered.

"You two can stop ganging up on me, that's what you can do." Jackie said, flicking open the sketchbook.

"Aw, but you do look cute when you get flustered."

"Don't you dare..."

_"Don't get up to anything naughty in the bedroom you two."_ Taboo was the one to make that joke, and Jackie went bright red, hiding her face in the clear white pages.

"Screw you Taboo, and screw you too!" She cried as Jamie pulled the book down to reveal that her normally pale skin was flushed.

"If you insist." Said Jamie, and Jackie somehow went an even brighter red and hit him on the head with the book.

"Stop it, that's... just..."

Jamie chuckled and put his arm around her and kissed her on the head. "See what I mean. Cute when flustered."

_"Very true."_ Taboo nodded.

"Stuff the pair of you." Jackie said, but did lean into Jamie a bit. Yes he was uncomfortably warm, but she'd gotten to the point where she'd decided that she didn't care.

"I hate to pop this lovely bubble we have, but I still have work to do." Jamie said regretfully.

"Far be it for me to stop you." Jackie pulled out of the hug and Jamie put the laptop back on his knees. "Knock 'em dead with it." Jackie encouraged.

"Will do. Any ideas for drawing yet?"

Jackie's eyes drifted over him and Taboo. "Yeah actually, but you can't look until it's done."

"Deal."

Many hours later, Jamie had been woken up by the not quite nightly ritual of Jackie getting a nightmare and going for a run. He didn't tell her how hard it was for him to get back to sleep, he didn't want her to feel more guilty about something she couldn't help.

Since he knew Jackie wouldn't be back for a while he got out of bed and took a sneaky look at Jackie's sketchbook. He hadn't seen any of it in a while.

Flicking through showed some sketches and practice drawings for what she drew for the shop, all of which were good, more than good, but Jackie would only get embarrassed if he said what he really thought.

He found the most recent one, and his mouth turned into a warm smile.

It was him and Taboo, as they were earlier, on the laptop and curled up on the floor respectively. Jackie hadn't finished the shading, but that didn't matter, Jamie was still very touched.

Jackie did have a hard time showing affection at times, but she did it was always heartfelt.

"Love you Jackie." Jamie muttered, not knowing that Taboo was also still awake and grinning to herself.

Those two could be so cute sometimes.

**A little romantic fluff, and as risqué as I'm ever going to get! Jackie's innocence is something I rarely get to exploit. Now if you'll excuse, I need to make a run for it. Between this chapter and the last chapter, I'm now wanted by two quite scary icy beings, so, uh, bye! *flies into the sky on a sandy jetski***


	57. Passing the Baton

**For reference, this takes place about a week or so before the Don't Fear the Reaper Interlude**

Aberdeen. A city I'd never been to. I'd probably be more interested in the history of the city, if I wasn't here for a reason.

I looked up at the hospital and suppressed a shudder. I hated hospitals, nothing good ever happened to me in there. If I wanted to be depressing I could add being born on that list, but that's pushing it.

I walked through the automatic doors and walked up to the receptionist, who was on the phone.

"One moment dearie." She said quietly to me in a Scottish accent before turning back to the phone. After a minute or so she put it down and smiled at me.

"What can I do fer ya?" She asked.

"Erm, I'm here to see Alfred O'Donnell." I said slightly nervously. He'd called me yesterday saying that he wanted to talk to me. He hadn't been doing well the past couple of months, and had been slowly giving me some of the Head work. Now that I was here all my worries about his health were coming back.

"Can I get yer name love?" Asked the receptionist and I gave it. She looked up the records and nodded.

"Yer listed in his kin." She said. "I'll get someone to see you up."

I took a seat in the reception area and I waited impatiently, tapping my finger against my knee. It took every bit of self control I had to not start freezing things, that's how much I hated hospitals.

"Jacqueline Davies?" Someone called and I stood up and walked over to the nurse.

"That's me."

She smiled. "This way please."

I followed her deeper into the hospital, trying not to look at everyone I walked past. It seemed to be everything from sprained wrists to bloody injuries in here.

"Your uncle is a tough old man." Said the nurse and I had roll with the lie that Alfred had cooked up so I could visit. "Hasn't given in."

"Good to hear." I said.

"So, you're from America?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Long way." She commented.

"I guess." I had come by Tunnel, so it wasn't an issue, not that she was going to know that. "He asked me to come, so here I am."

"You weren't going to come on your own?"

"I, I don't know. I'm not a fan of hospitals." It was a weak excuse, and I think she knew that, but didn't press. I didn't care if she thought I was being a bad family member, if that was the case then so be it.

Truth was, I knew Alfred was dying. He wouldn't give me the work if it wasn't a possibility, and he was in his nineties now. I had no desire to see him in such a state, let alone dying.

We finally stopped at a room and the nurse opened the room.

"Jacqueline's here to see you." She said, and before Alfred could respond she tutted and strode in. I looked in to see her close the window.

"Why do people keep doing that?" She asked, more to herself. "You'll catch your death."

I couldn't help it, I said. "Please don't joke about that."

The nurse looked back at me, and understanding crossed her face. She suddenly knew why I had been so reluctant, I'd lost family before.

"Sorry. I'll leave you two in peace."

She stepped out and I stepped in. Once she had left I opened the window again, it was roasting in here.

"Jackie." Said Alfred, his voice croaky, but strong.

"Alfred." I said, looking at the floor, I didn't want to look, didn't want to see.

"Lass, ye can look at me."

I looked up and it was as bad as I feared.

It was like he'd aged a decade in a few months, machines of all kinds were hooked up to him, a drip included. His hands, while they had been knarled with age, seemed almost lifeless while his face looked gaunt.

His eyes still sparked though, but even that seemed dulled.

He smiled. "Don't look so sad lass, I'm fine."

I snorted. "You don't look it."

He chuckled, a sound that sounded horribly like a cough. "Fair point lass." His gaze grew serious. "Now, take a seat, there's somethin' I need to ta tell ye."

I frowned, but took the chair in the corner of the room, moved it over to the bed and sat down in it.

"Good. Sorry ta drag ya here like this, but this couldn't wait."

"Please don't say that."

"Denyin' it's happenin' won't stop it." Said Alfred before continuing. "Might as well not beat around the bush lass, I want you to be Head."

"I know that." I said, frowning, "You've been saying that for years, and my answer is still no."

"Ye've bin handling the paperwork fine!" He said. "And this isn't me sayin' it. I'm nominating ye lass."

My eyes widened. This was official, he wasn't just saying it anymore, he was actually...

"Why? Alfred, I'm not... I..."

"I chose you fer a reason." Alfred relaxed into his bed slightly.

"Why me? Why not, Stephen, Mary, Rachel? Heck, Chris or Graham!"

"Stephen? Good man I'll admit, too much of a yes man, 'e won't object strongly to something if he thinks it's wrong unless pushed. Mary, too much of a battle mind, she'd sooner attack first and ask questions later. Rachel is too protective of Alice, and of ye, a leader has to have faith in those they lead. Chris loves his snowboard too much, and Graham? Seriously lass? 'Is head is too buried 'is comics!"

Alfred appraised me, looking me up and down. "You, on the other hand. Admittedly you're not perfect, too independent, you'd sooner sort it out on yer own than let someone help ye. However, you don't take crap from anyone, and Jason can get too big fer 'is boots sometimes. Need someone to bring him down a peg or two. And, ye always do what you think is right, consequences be damned! Nothing stops you if someone you care about is in danger."

Alfred paused and chuckled. "Plus, it's tradition fer the most powerful to take command. Like it or no, that's still you."

"How are we traditional?"

"We aren't, don't matter though. You seem to have a knack fer knowin' what needs to be done, even if you are too proud to let someone else more qualified to handle it."

"Hey!" I said, annoyed while Alfred chuckled.

"It's the truth, cannabe blind to yer own faults lass."

Alfred leaned back. "That should be it lass. I've already filled out things fer the other Heads, I imagine that yer Oath takin' will happen after I shuffle off."

"Don't." I said, already having had enough of death talk.

"Cannae deny it lass. I'm an old man."

"You're not dying." I insisted, feeling tears building up in my eyes. "You're not..."

"Jackie."

I looked back up at him.

"Ye need ta be strong, you hear? People die, that's how it is. No point gettin' upset about it."

"I can't..." Tears started to fall to my shame, freezing to face.

"Lass, it's okay."

"No it's not!"

"It's nature's way, and we are Descended from someone who can control parts of nature. Can't deny that, can we?"

"It's not fair!" I cried, hating how childish I sounded.

"Ye've seen more death than someone should have, true." Said Alfred softly. "And I'm sorry lass, I am really sorry fer doin' this to ya, but it's the way of things."

I brushed a hand over my face, rubbing off the frozen tears.

"Just, when I do go. Don't do what you did with Daniel, don't shut yerself off again, don't ye dare. It didn't help you then and it won't help you later."

I didn't reply and Alfred sighed.

"Ye probably got sick of hearin this one, but it doesn't make it less true. Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

"I hate that phrase."

"Doesn't surprise me, but, just smile. Fer me?"

I looked up, and forced a smile.

"What was that?" Alfred laughed. "Ye look like ye're tryin' ta pass gas!"

I snorted with laughter, a true smile crossing my face.

"Tha's better lass." Alfred was still laughing, then he looked over at the door.

"I suppose you'd better get back lass. You've got work ta do no doubt."

"I guess."

I stood up and looked over at Alfred, wondering if I was ever going to see him again.

"Better shut the window, eh lass? Before nursie starts to panic."

I smirked and went to shut the window. As it shut there was a loud beeping from the machinery. My head shot over and I saw that the machine monitoring his heart was the one that had gone. He had flatlined.

"NO!" I screamed, running over and shaking him. "ALFRED! DON'T DO THIS TO ME! ALFRED!"

A nurse ran in and called for a doctor, all the while trying to get me to leave. I couldn't hear what she was saying, all I could think about was Alfred, and the fact that I was probably spreading frost right now.

I was still screaming his name, I didn't want to believe it, even as I got forced into a side room, I was still crying.

Why? Why did he have to die?

I stopped screaming and just started crying, my cheeks becoming thick with frozen tears. I could vaguely hear Taboo talking to me in the back of my head from all the way in Burgess, trying to help me get a grip.

A nurse came in a little while later when I'd composed myself, and told me that while they had tried to help him, Alfred had died.

I just felt numb now, a very different reaction from my screaming fit earlier.

"Do you want to talk to anyone?" Asked the nurse, and I shook my head.

"No, thanks."

She left me alone and I sat down, wanting to shrink in within myself and shut everything out.

_Don't do what you did with Daniel, don't shut yerself off again, don't ye dare._

Alfred's words rang through my head, and I sighed. It was tempting, so tempting, to let history repeat itself. Yet, I knew I shouldn't, I couldn't. I was older now, this death wasn't my fault, there was no need to do that, and, when I did do that, I essentially let myself heal wrong.

It was like when a bone heals but doesn't align itself properly, and it needs to be broken again for it heal like it should. That's what happened with me, and it took seven years for that to change, and some of that damage was irreparable.

I wouldn't do it again. I'll mourn properly, and I'll be strong, I have to be this time.


	58. Not Everyone's Perfect

I learnt the hard way about Billy's family.

I'd gotten to the meeting place before anyone else, and I knew when Billy would turn up. He always turned up at the same time, like clockwork.

I'd placed a bit of ice right by the door, and was currently hiding up in the rafters. The building was quite old, but I was glad for the rafters. It gave me an excellent view of the action.

I lay on my front on the wooden beam, my eyes trained on the door, trying to stop the grin crossing my face. It was a fairly tame prank, but Billy had been acting so uptight lately that I wanted to just let him let off some steam.

The doors opened and I tensed, ready for a laugh. Except it wasn't Billy who walked out.

He looked like Billy sure, same blonde hair and same build, but he was dressed in a suit for a start. Billy never wore suits. Ever.

I couldn't see his face as he slipped on my ice, but I could instantly see that I'd just pranked the wrong person.

I shuffled back on the rafters, but the man's ears pricked up and he looked right up at me. He looked a lot like Billy, but was older, his blonde hair flecked with grey. I gave him a weak smile.

"Sorry, that was for, someone else." Given how this man looked, I decided that mentioning Billy was a bad idea.

"So, the famous Jacqueline Davies spends her free time hiding in the rafters and playing pranks on other people, does she?"

From that tone I decided that I didn't like him. He had the same accent as Billy, but clearly none of the fun.

Before I could respond the man shook his head. "I suppose it's to be expected, being a Descendant of Frost."

I frowned and scrambled up into a standing position. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The man looked a little surprised as he started walking across the room. "If you don't know, then I'm not going to be the one to tell you."

I was suddenly very tempted to throw a snowball at his head, instead I squashed it down, reverting to my demeanour when I was talking to the school bullies.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"He's my father."

I hadn't noticed Billy walk in, and jumped at the sound of his voice.

I turned to see him standing by the door, looking more uptight than I'd ever seen him.

"Honestly William, she didn't ask you." Said his dad, and my resolve shattered. He definitely deserved a snowball to the head.

"No, but I still answered." Said Billy, and I could hear the same repressed anger in his voice.

The tension in the room was so thick you could cut with a knife, and the three of us had only been standing here for two minutes.

"You didn't answer my other question. Why are you here?"

"If you must know." Said Osbourne senior, wrinkling his nose slightly. "I came to check on my son, to see if he's improved in his abilities at all."

I frowned, from what I'd managed to glean from the other four members of the Branch the Osbournes were a proud family, very concerned by perfection. Billy didn't seem anything like them though. Billy was relaxed, funny, a laugh, in training he didn't care if you messed up, as long as you didn't get injured and you knew where you went wrong.

"I don't need you to tell me anything." Growled Billy, "You just announced that you were coming over, as usual."

Osbourne senior's eyes seemed to narrow, and he flicked his hand. The wood I was standing on suddenly cracked and I fell through it with a yell of surprise.

My training with Jack kicked in and I formed a platform of ice to land on, about a metre off the ground.

Billy's father seemed surprised that I'd caught myself.

"Interesting. I assume you didn't teach her that technique William."

"So what if I didn't?!" Billy's nostrils were flaring as he glared at his father. "She could have gotten really hurt from you doing that!"

"Calm yourself William, that is not how a true Osbourne acts."

"Oh, and true Osbourne puts his friends in danger? She's a kid!"

"She's sixteen if I remember correctly. Certainly not a child."

I'd had enough at this point. "ENOUGH YOU TWO!"

Osbourne senior looked at me, completely shocked that anyone would dare say that to him. Billy on the other hand looked more surprised that it was me trying to call order.

"We're here for the meeting right? So let's just wait for the others to get here." I said calmly, the ice melting beneath me which allowed me to land on the floor. "Billy, will you help me get the chairs out please?"

My offer had done what I planned, and Billy looked relieved to be getting away from his dad. "Sure."

Before Osbourne senior could protest we'd disappeared into the walk in cupboard where we kept all of the equipment. I opened my mouth to say something Billy, but put his fingers to his lips in the half light, instead beckoning me deeper into the cupboard.

I nodded and followed, understanding. His dad could still hear us from there.

We got to where we needed to be and Billy let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that Jackie. I'm just so uptight around him."

"He's lucky he didn't get a snowball to the head." I said, and Billy let out a chuckle.

"He'd have it coming to him, but he wouldn't appreciate it. I assume the ice patch outside was for me?"

I gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, you've been so tense all week, I thought a mild prank would make you feel better."

Billy chuckled and shook his head. "I appreciate it kiddo, but you picked a bad day to set up a prank."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it kiddo."

Billy found some chairs and hefted about three of them up onto his shoulder.

"Better warn ya though. He isn't here just to check up on me."

I frowned in confusion.

"He's going to be taking the combat session later; he's brutal."

"Oh no."

"Yep."

"Any chance I could escape now?"

"Nope, he can control wood, part of his florakinesis." For some reason the last word came out bitter in Billy's mouth. "He'd just get the wood to catch ya."

"Sounds like that's from experience." I said, grabbing my own chairs.

Billy let a half mumble half growl. "Yeah, nearly everyone else in my family's done it to me at least once."

I stopped in place as everything clicked into place. Everyone in the Burgess Branch knew that Billy hadn't got geo or flora kinesis, just the enhanced agility and senses. We didn't care, Billy was Billy and we loved him no matter what. However, Billy did care. He didn't say it often, but over the past few years I'd gotten the impression that he was angry at the fact he _couldn't_ do it. Now it made sense, if his whole family could do it except him, and if they were as bad as his dad...

I looked at Billy's retreating back, trying to work out if I should bring it up. It was clearly a touchy subject.

I shook my head, deciding against it. This was Billy's fight, not mine.

I followed him out with the chairs, mentally preparing for what promised to be hell later.

* * *

The others hadn't reacted well to Billy's father either. Sally just looked at him before greeting me, Tina barely even glanced at the man, instead giving Billy a sympathetic look, which was almost unheard of for those two.

Nigel greeted Osbourne senior politely, but definitely not warmly. None of us liked his attitude towards his son, clearly.

Once we got to the combat session, it was clear the others were dreading it, obviously having heard stories about his brutal training methods.

I thought Nigel and Billy were harsh teachers, but at least they didn't yell when you paused for a second to catch your breath. It seemed that in Osbourne senior's mind, if you weren't about to faint, then you could last until the next water break.

The Branch had been cold to Osbourne senior, and apparently the feeling was mutual. He kept on belittling our technique, and I was gritting my teeth, forcing myself to ignore him and keep working on the techniques. I so wanted to turn around and yell at him for being unreasonable, but I wasn't sure I had the breath for that.

When we were done I practically crawled to where I'd left my water bottle, too tired to walk properly.

"You saved all of HOG and ended the war." Said Osbourne senior as I took a swig from my bottle. "I find that difficult to believe. Are you sure that wasn't just made up to make your lot look better?"

Billy growled under his breath and I glared at Osbourne senior.

"You are asking to get frozen to the floor." I growled under my breath, which of course he heard.

"Then do it rather than just talking about it."

The whole room fell silent, charged with a tension I didn't quite understand, but I wanted nothing more than to do exactly that. Maybe even freeze him solid.

"It's not worth it." Tina hissed. "I thought you knew how to deal with people like this."

I did, normally I ignored them, but this man managed to push buttons I didn't realise could be pushed.

At school I got made fun of for being a loner, for not having any friends. I managed to block that out because I didn't care. What Osbourne senior was saying I did care about. He was belittling my friends and belittling my powers. He even insulted my heritage, I couldn't block that out.

Frost spread unchecked from my position, towards Osbourne senior. He just looked unfazed as the temperature dropped.

I got some control back, but instead of reining it in I made it spread faster, too tired right now to freeze him outright. However as the temperature dropped I felt stronger.

"Jackie, stop!" Commanded Nigel. "It's not worth the effort."

"Oh no. If the Descendant of Frost wants to, then she'll do it anyway, am I correct?"

This was territory I wasn't aware of. What was he talking about?

That didn't stop the frost spreading. Finally Billy stood up.

"BOTH OF YOU! STOP IT!"

I jumped in surprise and the frost retreated while Osbourne senior looked at his son in pure shock.

"William..." He started warningly, but Billy cut him off.

"No. You leave Jackie alone, she gets enough shit at school and you give me enough shit. You don't need to pass any on to her!"

I stared at Billy in shock, mainly because I'd never heard him swear.

"And Jackie, as much as I appreciate it, can you please not freeze him?"

I nodded and the frost retreated entirely. My water still frosted over when I grabbed it, but that was neither here nor there.

Osbourne senior on the other hand narrowed his gaze. "If this is how you talk to your father, I don't see why I bother with you."

"Believe me, I've asking the same question for years."

The two Descendants of Bunnymund glared at each other, until the senior walked towards the door. He left without a word.

Billy let out a long breath and sat down, Tina putting a supporting arm across his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted like that." I said, not looking at Billy.

"Not your fault kiddo. I'm surprised it took ya that long to snap. He was being worse than usual."

"What was he even talking about?" I asked, looking up. The other four looked at each other with expressions I couldn't read.

"Don't worry about it." Said Nigel, a little hurriedly. "It's nothing."

I raised my eyebrows and shrugged, not bothered. I was still too tired to really care.

"So," Started Billy, standing up and putting a smile which I think everyone saw through, "Are we going to continue or what?"

* * *

Billy was standing to the side as we packed up, looking at the door. Nigel looked at the three of us and signalled for us to get the chairs away and he'd talk to Billy.

Tina urged us not to eavesdrop, which surprised me. However, it was Billy's business, and his family, despite what he father had said, what happened had clearly shaken him.

Once Nigel was done talking with Billy we went back out, trying to act like nothing had happened. It wasn't easy with Billy's obvious tear tracks though.

I took one look outside, and I had a plan.

I walked up to Billy and called him outside. He was confused as I led him out of town, until we reached the woods.

"We're not going where I think we're going?"

"Oh, we are. And if I've timed it right, we should have the King of Snowball fights waiting."

"Jackie, you can't be serious?"

"I am. You need cheering up. Come on."

Billy paused for a bit. "Jackie, ya sure about this? It wasn't your fault."

I looked back at him and shrugged. "I don't mind about your dad, I just know that you're upset and I know a snowball fight can fix that."

"In that case, you're on!"

**This is the meeting between Jackie and David Osbourne that was mentioned in Black Sheep.**

**I know I portray Osbourne senior in a bad light here, but I see him as a bit more like Stoik from HTTYD. He does care about Billy, and does want him to be the best that he can be, but does it in a way that Billy can't relate to, causing a rift between them. Not to mention that as the family patriarch he's used to a bit more respect than he's getting from the Burgess Branch. Finally, what he was saying about the Descendants of Jack Frost, that was probably more brought out by frustration rather than actually believing what he's saying, but only he, you, the audience, and I, the all powerful writer, actually know this, not the rest of the cast, so it'll naturally leave a nasty taste in their mouths.**  
**I also feel that while HOG can seem like one big family at times, not every family is perfect. They don't necessarily have to be a black sheep like Colin, just minor antagonisers. I'm fortunate enough to not come from a family with anyone like that, that I know of, but I know that they do exist.**


	59. Annual Meeting

**Since I forgot that I hadn't posted the Meeting saga on here yet and posted 'Jackie and Tooth' which takes place after the saga, many of you are probably confused. So, I'll start posting the Meeting saga, which as always, takes place in the main HOG universe, and I'll take down 'Jackie and Tooth, to put up again once the saga's done. Okay? Okay.**

The annual meeting takes place on the day when the first Guardians went against Pitch; Ombric, Katherine, Nightlight and North.

To this day we have no idea whether or not this is actually the day it occurred, but it's too much hassle and pretty pointless to change it, so we just do it anyway.

For reference, it's around mid December.

It's a long affair, because while it is a meeting to discuss events of the past year, new Descendants and begin planning for things that may occur in the coming year, it is also a time to catch up.

Historically the Heads become as close to each other as they do with those in their Branch, so a large chunk of the time is spent catching up and swapping stories, to the point where the 'meeting' takes at least twelve hours.

And with the addition of Tracey's pack, you could be sure that the meetings went on even longer.

A lot of construction went on that year in the Records Room, where a new wing had been added for the history of the Descendants of Lupine, which was as rich as our own. They had managed to add to our knowledge of the Descendants of Pitch, as the traditional role of the Descendants of Lupine was observers. Sticking to the shadows and keeping note of everything. The neutral packs still do that, but those who have aligned themselves to either us or their ancestor found that they were no longer able to do so. There were still contacts and messengers between packs though.

All of the stuff I'd gotten from Greg's was in the process of being translated and catalogued. I was now in the process of learning what had already been translated to teach the others, and once either Greg had learnt English or I learned Norwegian, Greg was going to help.

It had only been a couple of months, so naturally, things hadn't gotten far. But, it was progress.

Taboo and I got to the base first for once and went to the Council Chamber to wait. A new chair had been added, so I wasn't technically on the edge anymore, but since Tracey only turned up for the annual meetings, it didn't always count.

The new chair was grey and had a basic fir tree carved into the headpiece. It stood opposite mine, but was next to Alexander's, which he wasn't happy about.

Tracey's symbol was actually new to us. Our symbols were normally similar to those we associated with our ancestor, however Tracey seemed to want to distance herself as much as possible from her ancestor. Therefore, Lupine's symbol was a pawprint, Tracey's pack was a fir tree.

I leaned back on the cushioned seat and put my feet on the table with a yawn. No one else was here and I hadn't slept well the night before.

_"Don't get too comfy. You don't want to get on Jason's bad side again."_

I groaned and cracked open an eyelid at the small version of Taboo standing by my feet. I hated to admit, but she was right, so I slid my feet off the table.

"Spoilsport." I muttered, pulling the hood of my hoodie over my head. Instead of leaning all the way back in my chair to nap I folded my arms and tilted my head downwards.

"Someone didn't get much sleep last night."

My head shot up and to the door where Tracey was, and had walked in without me noticing.  
I threw my hood down and tried to put on a smile, which quickly turned into a yawn.

"You're just going to look even more un-professional if you try to cover it up." She commented as she walked over to her chair.

"Who says we're getting paid for this?" I muttered.

"Well if that's why you didn't want to do this..."

I jumped out of skin as Jason entered the room, a mischievous grin looking out of place on his normally serious face.

"What is it with everyone and sneaking up on me today?" I groaned.

_"They're not; you're just unobservant."_

"And you can can it."

Taboo let out a rumbling laugh and stood up on the table, shaking her 'fur'.

"Jackie, we've talked about this. If Taboo has something to say then can you please pass it on?" Said Jason, raising an eyebrow.

"She just said that I'm being unobservant today."

"You're tired, it happens." Said Tracey calmly.

"If she's tired then it wasn't my fault." Said Samson as he wheeled himself in. Getting struck by lightning twice during what was known as the 'Don't Fear the Reaper' episode had taken its toll on the Descendant of Sandman. The neurological damage along with injuries from the Battle of the Un-dead had resulted in Samson requiring a wheelchair to get around.

His wheelchair was designed by both him and Jason. It looked like a normal electric wheelchair, but it was powered by Samson's own Dreamsand when he wasn't otherwise using it, with electricity as a backup, it could handle going down the Tunnels and Samson could use his sand to customise it further in as many ways as he could think of.

Now all he had to do was shave his head and he'd look like a mini Professor X.

"At least you said something before scaring the living daylights out of us." I muttered as he went over to his spot at the table, using sand to get into his Head chair.

"No, just you." Corrected Tracey as I let out another yawn "And that's what you get for going to bed late."

"Just had a hard time sleeping, that's all." I protested.

"Why?" Asked Samson. Of course he was curious, sleep was his specialty.

"I dunno, just couldn't drop off."

"This is only your second annual meeting, nervous?"

I made a noise that could be identified as either yes or f off.

"Somebody's grouchy." Observed Alexander, taking his place next to Tracey.

"Somebody didn't get enough sleep." Said Tracey.

"What is this? 'Everyone pick on Jackie day'?" I protested.

"No, we just find your lack of sleep humorous." Said Samson.

"Hilarious."

"Oh stop it, we've got a meeting to get underway." Chided Claire as she hovered in.

"Thank you!" I said, throwing up my arms.

"Now we know she's tired, she wants to get a meeting underway."

"Enough Alexander." Said Claire with a sigh.

"Yes, right, to business." Said Jason clearing his throat, and such the first meeting with Tracey got underway.

* * *

"Oi, wake up!"

"Wha...?"

I lifted my head off the table and looked blearily at the other five around the table.

_"You fell asleep."_ Taboo informed me.

"Ah." Sitting next to Samson had not been a good idea. At least it had prevented my re-occurring nightmares.

_"Ah, indeed."_

"Well, now that Jackie is back with us, care to tell us about recruitment with the Descendants of Jack Frost?" Asked Jason, not amused in the slightest.

I sat up properly and tried to ignore the line of dribble that was on my chin as I spoke.

"Well, um. We've gained a couple over the past year. One from Canada and one from Scotland. I think the one from Scotland is Alfred's great granddaughter."

"You think? As Head you need to confirm this!" Cried Jason, and I groaned mentally as he began anther lecture.

"Because your group of Descendants are so new we need to keep track of family lines so that we can predict when you'll pop up and we get in there before anything bad happens. There have too many mistakes in the past and the last thing we want is more members with severe mental scars over their abilities!"

"I know, I'm just tired. I'll chase it up when the meeting's over." I countered, not really feeling up to a shouting match this time.

Jason opened his mouth, presumable to respond to me, then closed it, confused.

"Did Jackie just retaliate to Jason calmly?" Asked Alexander, not quite able to believe it.

Tracey looked between the pair of us. "I guess that you two don't really get along."

"They don't" answered Claire, "They often have shouting matches."

"I'm too tired and Jason does have a good, if waffley, point." I said, feeling a little more awake.

They were still staring.

"What? Believe it or not, I don't get any kind of enjoyment out of arguing with Jason."

After a few more seconds of almost disbelieving silence, Tracey coughed.

"Anyway, isn't there anything anyone wants to say?" She prompted.

"Ah, yes." Jason recovered himself.

"I have been thinking. Over the past few years, we've had more contact from our ancestors than any other time in our history. So I'd like to propose that we, officially, open more channels with them."

I blinked in surprise, suddenly feeling more awake. Jason, Jason Morris, the man who firmly stood by protocol, was suggesting that we become friendlier with the Guardians.

"...You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting... Are you?"

"We better not go down the same route as the Descendants of Pitch." Said Alexander, folding his arms. "They're like his personal army."

"I am not saying that we go down that route." Defended Jason. "What I'm saying is that we become more affiliated with them, so we can let each other know more easily if things are going to affect both sides, that kind of thing."

Samson tapped his chin thoughtfully. "We will have to consider how exactly very carefully, but I agree that we should do this."

"I'm all for it." I said, leaning back in my chair.

"Of course you are, you know them personally." Said Jason, with a hint of disapproval.

"I'm too tired to argue with you" I said before looking at the others. "So, what do you guys say?"

Claire considered. "As Samson said, we'll have to think about this in greater detail, but at the moment, I think it's a good idea."

"I'm in as well." Said Alexander.

"Well, they aren't my ancestors, but as long as you don't go the same route as some of my fellow Descendants, I don't see why not." Said Tracey, her arms folded.

"Well then, Jackie if you could bring it up with Jack Frost next time you see him. I know you that you see him every now and again." Said Jason, his eyebrows slightly raised in a disapproving manner.

"Sure, I'll tell him." I said, trying not to yawn.

"I think we'd better end the meeting there." Said Alexander. "Otherwise one of us is going to have to carry Jackie to the Sleeping Quarters."

"Ha ha." I said, and Taboo laughed as well, in her growling, rumbling way.

"What was that?" Asked Tracey, suddenly looking ready to bolt.

"That was Taboo. Laughing."

"At least someone thinks I'm funny." Said Alexander with a grin.

"Don't push it Banks."

"Alright, meeting over." Said Samson, moving to his wheelchair. "I do not wish to be around when Jackie gets too grumpy."

"Did you forget we're having a party?" Asked Claire and Samson shook his head.

"No, I would just like to retrieve the rest of the drinks."

I groaned. I hadn't brought anything, and looking at Tracey, neither had she.

"We'll let you two off, this time." Said Jason with an amused smile, "Just don't forget next time."

I nodded in confirmation and headed to the Sleeping Quarters to get some clearly much needed sleep before we went mad.

We Heads rarely get the chance to let our hair down in HOG, and this night was when we finally did. We'd drink, play stupid games, ranging from traditional kids party fare to racing around the Main Cavern. As well as telling stupid stories, why we needed alcohol I didn't know.

I was never one for alcohol, and my parents had never let me try it, so when I did at last year's meeting, things got, interesting. I vowed to never do it again.

Taboo led the way through the Sleeping Quarters, going past the female Descendants of Jack Frost dorms. The Heads had recently carved out their own rooms, which I had objected too at first, but I got out voted.

They were simple to start off with, each room had a door painted the colour of their group of Descendants with the corresponding symbol on the door. An actual door rather than the curtains that separated the rest of the Sleeping Quarters.

Inside the walls and bed sheets were the same colour as the door, with a wardrobe and shelves should we need them. Even Tracey had one, although I wasn't sure if anyone had told her yet.

Over the past year or so I'd been adding a few things to my room. A poster here, an ice figure there, that kind of thing. I figured that if I was going to be staying in here, I'd might as well put some effort in.

All of the things I'd put in it went unnoticed as I collapsed on the bed; I was more tired than I thought.

Damn it Samson.

* * *

I woke up to music trickling in from the Main Cavern via my slightly ajar door, and rolled over and pulled the covers around my ears.

Call me a miserable sod, but I wasn't a fan of parties.

I'd been to a few. A lot of Jamie's collage friends wanted to meet me, but once I was there I just sat awkwardly somewhere while they got drunk. Jamie I'd like to point out wasn't among those who got drunk, but he was still more socially adept than me. Therefore, he actually found it hilarious that his friends were doing stupid things.

_"They're going to want you in there you know."_

I looked down at Taboo and said.

"Whose side are you on?"

_"I'm just saying. Poor Tracey's going to have to put up with them on her own."_

That was a good point. I groaned and rolled out of the bed, not bothering to sort out my bed head before heading to the Main Cavern.

Looking in, you'd think it was a bunch of teenagers who'd set up camp in the Main Cavern, then you'd see Jason's beard and wonder what on earth was going on.

Tracey was standing a little away from the other four Heads, who were dancing to the music blaring from someone's phone. I didn't recognise the song, but Samson seemed to know it the best, he was mouthing along with it.

Food had been set up on a table nearby, and looking at it I could see the various dishes that the other Heads had brought. Samson was true to his Italian heritage had brought seafood pasta, and given the guy was a professional chef it was guaranteed to be great.

Claire had made some kind of unidentifiable brown soup, Jason some barbecued meats and Alexander had the dessert, and he had rolled with it.

Chocolates of various kinds were dotted across the plate, each in different shapes. I guess Alexander had inherited Bunnymund's affinity with chocolate making.

Deciding to trust Samson's the most I retrieved some pasta and went over to Tracey.

"You know, they get on at me for acting like a kid, but they're just as bad." I said, nodding over to them.

Tracey nodded, her face tense. "Is this what normal people do for fun?"

"Sadly, yes."

"I'm guessing you're not a fan of it?"

"Nope. Give me a quiet evening with a book or something and I'm happy." I scooped up some of the pasta and blew on it, frosting it over slightly before eating it. This was my method when eating normal temperature food.

I noticed Tracey watching me curiously.

"What?"

"Why did you freeze the food?" She asked, as though it was a waste.

"Can't eat it any other way. It would burn my mouth otherwise." I put another forkful of pasta in my mouth as Tracey considered it.

The song changed to an old rock song, which Jason seemed to know, but both Tracey and Alexander winced at the pounding beats.

"Bit much for your ears?" I asked. We'd learned that shape shifting Descendants of Lupine did indeed have stronger senses of hearing and smell, easily matching the Descendants of Bunnymund.

Tracey nodded, her face starting to screw up slightly.

"Do you know anywhere we go to get some peace and quiet?"

"Well, you can always go to your room here."

"I have a room here?"

I let out a sigh. "Of course they haven't explained it. Follow me."

I led her through the Sleeping Quarters to the grey coloured door next to mine.

"It's more ceremonial, but you can a good night's sleep in them."

Tracey opened the door and stood there for a second, taking it in.

"This is mine?"

"For as long as you need it. Yeah."

I may have been mistaken, but I thought I saw her calm mask slip. Her mouth was hanging open, and for a moment I thought that she was about to cry. Strangely in her open mouth I could see that her canines were longer than normal.

"Are you alright?" I asked. Tracey nodded quickly, a calm mask back on her face.

"Yes. Hadn't you better head back? The others might want to know where you are."

I wasn't fooled but I nodded.

"Okay, see you later."

I walked back to the Main Cavern and stood a little to side, finishing my pasta. The music was starting to do my own ears in, so I decided to move somewhere else too.

I went to the Cavern of the Dead.

My choice could be considered morbid, but I came here when I needed to think, and when I needed some comfort.

My feet took me a familiar, now repaired statue. Penelope stood at the end, with the other war casualties.

I stood by her feet and looked at her face, now I was older, Penelope seemed so young. Way too young to die. It had been over a decade, and I still felt a certain amount of guilt when I thought about her death. I had a feeling it was going to stay with me for even more decades to come.

"Hey." I said, fully aware I was talking to a statue, I do the same thing with Daniel's grave. It was mad, it was illogical, but I didn't care.

"Were the Head's ever like that with you? Sometimes I think they're worse than me."

I smirked and stood there, slowly getting lost in memory lane.

"What are you doing down here?"

I jumped and turned to the entrance, where Alexander was leaning around, his face a little flushed. I groaned mentally, please don't tell me he's cracked open the alcohol. I'd have thought Claire at least would have known better than that.

"Getting a bit of peace."

"Peace? It's a party! Stop being so miserable and get up here!"

"No thanks."

"Come on! Once you relax it'll be fine. Promise. It's not as if you're surrounded by strangers." All of the jokes were gone, Alexander was being serious.

"If I must."

Alexander's face broke into a grin and he ran forward, grabbing my arm and dragging me back upstairs. Dear God he had been at the alcohol.

"Come on then! You won't regret this!"

_I already am._

* * *

I finally escaped in the small hours, bidding my co-workers goodnight as I all but sprinted for the Departure Cavern.

Each of the Heads were varying degrees of drunk, with Jason easily being the worst. Despite being the second youngest there (Tracey was younger than me) I had to take control and send them to bed, each with a half frozen bucket of water to deal with the hangover.

I went up to the lake with Taboo and sat against a tree, close to exhaustion from having to deal with the other Heads. I wanted nothing more than to go home, but I wasn't sure if either of us would make it tonight.

"When they wake up tomorrow." I said to Taboo, "I don't care how hung over they are, I will freeze them to the floor. Why do people do this to themselves?!"

_"It's normal human thing."_ Rumbled Taboo, _"You are not normal and I am not human."_

"I'm starting to understand what Nigel told me. Who'd be normal if they do stupid things like that?"

"Stupid things like what?"

I was too tired to jump as Jack hung upside down in front of my face. Even Taboo was too tired to growl.

"Getting drunk."

Jack's raised his eyebrows, which looked odd upside down. "Don't tell me you-?"

"No, I'm just tired trying to make sure the other four Heads didn't hurt themselves."

"The Heads were drunk?"

"Sadly, yes." I groaned and leaned my head against the tree, covering my eyes with my arm. "I have seen things I will never unsee."

"So that's why you're here at five AM, and disturbing my sleep."

I winced and lowered my arm. "Sorry."

Jack waved away my concern, slipping off the branch and landing smoothly in front of me. In a tired tangent of thought I thought that Jack could easily compete at the Olympics, if he wasn't invisible to most of the population.

"Don't worry about it, you could use it more than me, looking at you."

I murmured an agreement, and yawned.

Jack leaned on his staff and peered at me and Taboo. "You two aren't going to make it back to your flat, are you?"

"I doubt it." I said, stifling a yawn. "Not as if the cold's an issue."

Jack chuckled. "True." He looked up at the tree, then back down at us. "You're not even going to make it into the tree are you?"

I only shook my head, feeling it drooping. I could hear Taboo making the soft rumbling noises she made when she went into a sleep like state. Taboo didn't actually sleep, she tended to doze or meditate instead.

I was already slipping into a sleep haze, no matter how hard I was trying to focus on Jack. Before I fell asleep I felt the cool wood of his staff and his neutral arms changing my position into a more comfortable one, and I could feel Taboo's body against mine.

"Sleep tight Icicle."

"...You too Snowman."

* * *

I was on the lake.

The trees around it looked smaller, like I'd gone back in time, but that wasn't what I was focusing on. I was focusing on the boy a few metres in front of me. He looked like Jamie, then his face shifted and he looked like Danny, my brother.

"Jackie. I'm cold." He whimpered as the ice around his feet cracked.

"I-It's okay, we'll be alright." I said, then shouted. "HELLO! SOMEBODY, HELP!"

"Jackie." He whimpered, the face shifting between Jamie and Danny. Then the ice cracked and he fell through.

"NO!" I screamed, running forward frustratingly slowly, my powers strengthening the ice beneath my feet.

I reached the area where Jamie/Danny had fallen through and reached my hand in grab him, but as soon as my hand touched the water it began to freeze.

"No! Not now please!" I begged, but the ice paid no heed.

I could see his face through the ice, and it kept switching between Jamie, Danny, and finally Jack, his spirit and human form. Each one of them begging for air, to live, and all I was doing was sealing their doom.

"No, please. Just stop freezing! STOP!"

* * *

I woke up to Jack shaking me.

"Jackie! Jackie wake up!"

I shot bolt upright and let out wordless scream, still partially in the dream.

My eyes darted around the lake and I felt myself relax. Everything was fine. I started shaking again as I remembered the nightmare, I just had a nightmare about how Jack died, something I never thought would happen.

Jack was kneeling in front of my face, almost uncomfortably close.

"Oh thank goodness." He gasped, the panicked look in his bright blue eyes fading. "You were thrashing around and screaming."

He calmed down as I got my breath back, and then he shot me an accusing look.

"I thought you said that you weren't getting nightmares anymore."

I shifted uncomfortably. "You know I hate people worrying Jack."

"No wonder you've got such dark shadows under your eyes!" Jack sprung to his feet, looking at the morning sky. "Maybe I should go find Sandy..."

"No!" I cried, a little louder and more desperate than I intended. Jack looked at me and I backtracked.

"It's not that big of an issue, and Sandman has to handle the dreams of thousands of kids. I don't want to add to that."

"Jackie." Said Jack warningly. "Be honest; how many nightmares have you been getting?"

I wanted to lie, I really did, but Jack had perfected the method of looking like you _couldn't_ lie to him. I bet he picked that up from North.

"Most nights." I admitted. "It's not as bad as it was."

"That's still bad. The more I look at you the more I see a panda."

I chuckled and shook my head. "Jack, don't worry about me-."

"I do though. It's been a long time since you were a kid, and I know you can handle yourself." Jack shrugged to himself, before giving me a bright smile. "But you're my friend."

I felt my own face smile at that. No matter how much you take friendship for granted, just someone saying it always made my heart soar.

Taboo rumbled awake, reminding me of what the other Heads had asked.

"Oh! Um, in the meeting, Jason, of all people, came up with a proposal."

"Oh yeah?" I could tell Jack wasn't all that interested, but was trying for my sake to not stay focused on the nightmares.

"We came to the agreement that we, the Heads, should open more communications with the Guardians."

I continued as Jack's jaw dropped, a grin appearing on my face.

"That way if something came up, because our conflicts often, although not always, mirror each other, we can work together to find the problem, and then work it out in our own way."

"And Jason came up with this?" Asked Jack, almost disbelievingly, "Mr 'Don't get involved with the Guardians because of protocol'? That Jason?"

"The very one. I got asked to pass it on, since I'm the most likely to see one of you." I levered myself to my feet, feeling some of my joints popping.

Jack put his hand to his chin, looking like he was thinking. "I'll pass it on to North. Do you reckon we should have joint meetings as well?"

Jack was completely serious now, so I just shrugged. "Possibly, I wouldn't say every meeting should be joint, but say, a few times a year."

"On the solstices?" Asked Jack with a grin, knowing that the sole mention of the 's' word was enough to make me prickle with annoyance.

"If we must."

Jack jumped to the top of his staff. "I'll tell North about it later. Today I wanted to spend the snow day with you guys."

I grinned, knowing that he meant the whole gang who was in town, which sometimes involved my Branch.

"I'll let them know you're here, just let me get changed, and have a shower."

Jack sniffed and wrinkled his nose. "Good idea, see you back here in a couple of hours?"

"Sure."


	60. Winter Solstice

**Part 2 in the Meetings Saga**

Less than a month later I was standing in the Departure Cavern, triple and quadruple checking I had everything I need, all while cursing Jason under my breath.

We'd agreed to meet up four times a year, on summer (21st June) and winter (21st December) solstice, and on the spring and autumn equinox, which would change yearly. In winter and spring we'd go the Pole and the Warren respectively, so the two Guardians could keep an eye on their holidays, while in summer and autumn an elected Guardian would come to the base. We didn't know who that Guardian was, although I expected Bunnymund, given his comfortableness underground and the fact he had easy access via his Tunnels.

Oh, we were only sending one Head too, me.

It was ultimately decided that I should be the one to go since I was on the best terms with the Guardians, never mind the fact I had the least experience being a Head. At least I'd talked him out of getting me to wear the cloak.

Grumbling under my breath I made my way to the dizzying top of the Departure Cavern, where three new Tunnel entrances had been dug out. One to the Pole, one to the Warren and one to Punjam Hy Loo.

Sandman's Island didn't have any land underneath it, so we couldn't get a Tunnel there, and we could use the Tunnel to Burgess to find Jack if we really needed to, although one had been opened to Antarctica as well, just in case.

It was almost remarkable how quickly we'd all agreed to this, but it seemed that North had been just as keen on this idea as the rest of us. I had a feeling Bunnymund wasn't quite as keen, but that was probably one against ten.

I checked my watch, judging it to be the right time to go, and after making sure that Taboo was secure in my hood I tapped my fist against the Tunnel to the Pole.

The entrance melted away and I almost flew in on a path of ice, my nerves disappearing with the rush of adrenaline.

The nerves came back in full force as I exited the Tunnel, appearing, not in the Globe Room as I expected, but outside the Workshop, in a blizzard.

I swore in shock and wrapped my arms around myself. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, I was starting to shiver already, which was new.

"Tell me about it." Came an Australian accented voice and I turned to see Bunnymund also hopping out of a Tunnel. "Although, I'd 'ave thought you'd be okay with this."

"With warning and a coat, yes." I said, "This hoodie is deceptively thin."

I made an exasperated noise in my throat and began walking towards the Pole, Bunnymund could easily have beaten me there, but for some reason he walked at my pace.

I could see the Pooka shivering out of corner of my eye and came to a decision.

"Race you?"

"Ya don't wanna race a rabbit."

"I know, but you're shivering badly."

"North just wanted someone to make sure you got to the Workshop alright." Said Bunnymund.

"And we will if we race, believe or not I'm shivering too."

Bunnymund looked me up and down, then gave me an odd smile. "Not a word to Frost. Got it?"

"Got it."

Bunnymund was off like a sprinter out of the starters block, and I wasn't far behind on my ice bridge.

I hadn't gone so fast since the last time I travelled across the Arctic, about seven years ago, and I was loving it.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOO!" I yelled as I came level with Bunnymund and I saw his mouth move as he muttered something.

_"He said_ 'she's just as loud as Frost''" Translated Taboo.

"Too right! This is fun!" I let out a laugh as I skated, my arms pumping furiously to keep momentum.

_"Are you sure you're not six, instead of twenty six?"_

"Oh stop being such a spoilsport Taboo. I need to get it all out now anyway, otherwise I dread to think what Jack might rope me into."

_"Good point. Keep laughing."_

I laughed at that and began skating backwards, letting my powers control the skates.  
Bunnymund was still keeping pace with me, but I had a feeling that was out of duty to North, to make sure I got to the Workshop. Not all that necessary, given that I'd have to be blind to miss it.

"You can stop being polite you know. I can see you're not putting everything into it."

Bunnymund gave me a look. "You'll never beat me if I did."

"If we even draw it will be hollow, because you didn't try. So come on!"

"No point, we're pretty much there."

I turned around to see that yes, we were right up against the Workshop. All we needed to find now was the door.

Almost as if he read my mind Bunnymund said. "Door's this way."

"Thanks." I said, following him at a more sedate pace. Finding the door would have been much harder in this blizzard.

A Yeti opened the surprisingly modest doors and Bunnymund bounded in, practically absorbing the heat as he made a beeline for the nearest fireplace.

I just leaned against the now closed door, panting from the race. Taboo leapt out of my hoodie and grew to full size, shaking herself off as the Yeti took a surprised step back.

_You might want to shrink, so we don't freak anyone out. It's three days away from Christmas Eve after all._

"Fine fine."

Taboo shrunk to the point where she reached my hip, still large enough to not get crushed in the manic Workshop, but small enough to not cause mass panic. I doubted the Yeti's were quite that flighty, but I didn't want to risk it.

We walked through the manic Workshop, ducking under presents and dodging Yetis carrying unidentifiable items wrapped in colourful paper.

Very different from when I'd made the same journey seven years ago.

I reached the Globe Room, but to my surprise, there was no one there.

A jingling bell caught my attention and I corrected myself. No, there was an elf here, great.

The tiny creature waddled over and tugged at my trouser leg, seemingly unfazed by Taboo. I looked down and saw it was pointing in a certain direction.

"They're that way?"

The elf nodded proudly and waddled its way in the direction, presumably to lead me.

I looked at Taboo and we both shrugged, deciding it was better than standing here looking like idiots.

Thankfully the elf did lead us in the right direction, and we exited to a sitting room essentially.

A crackling fireplace was at the far end, with a large Christmas tree next to it. There were various fairy lights strung around the walls, providing more light and adding to the cosy atmosphere.

The walls appeared to be intricately carved dark wood and brightly coloured rugs were strewn on the wooden floor. Facing each other by the fire across a low table were several squashy sofas and chairs.

This was a lot more homely than the Council Chamber, it was a nice change.

North was already in the room, occupying a large red seat close to the fire. Bunnymund hadn't taken a seat, but was instead warming his feet by the fire.

"Ah Jackie!" Cried North as I entered the room, moving quickly from his chair. "Is good to see you!"

"Good to see you too North." I said politely, if slightly warily, wondering if I was going to get subjected to a rib crushing hug.

I was, and I tried not to complain from the Russian's body heat as he seemed to try and squeeze the air out of me.

"Let her go North, she'd turning blue." Quipped Bunnymund and North let me down, causing me to stagger slightly and Taboo laugh. She grew to her normal size as I walked further in, and I stood a little awkwardly until North bid me to sit down.

I sat on a blue sofa as far away from the fire as possible and took off my bag. I suddenly felt so light I felt that I could fly.

Taboo curled up by my feet as I rummaged through the bag, trying to find all of the necessary files. I'd brought a few unessential ones just in case I needed to kill some time. I hadn't gotten much further with reading them all.

"You look like you've brought HOG's library with you." Commented North, and I shook my head.

"Not even close. The Records Room is the size of a football pitch, easy."

"You have that much information?" North laughed. "What on earth is in there?"

"Erm, profiles on known immortals, records of events, weird events not involving us, Branch lists, Descendant lists, and a whole section dedicated to spell books."

"Spell books?" Now Bunnymund was curious. I leaned back slightly as I explained, rolling my right shoulder.

"Descendants of North only. The rest of us have powers that really shouldn't be mixed with Atlantian magic, and I've read about it, the result wasn't pretty."

"Do we want to know?"

"No, you really don't." I tried to not remember the pictures but they flashed up in my head anyway.

The door opened and in flew Toothiana, surrounded by a few Mini Fairies.

"Oh! Jackie's here already!" She said, flying up to me. "How are you doing? How are your teeth? And Jamie's?"

"Fine, healthy, I'm not his mother."

"Leave her alone, she's probably still freezing from trekking up here." Bunnymund stepped in thankfully, and Toothiana went to her seat. I never found that I could relax around Toothiana, she was always doing something, zipping around like a hummingbird. To someone who appreciates relaxation and not having to be active to have fun, Toothiana was exhausting just to watch.

Thinking about, her Descendants had the same kind of energy whenever they got excited about something.

Sandman was next in, nodding and smiling to everyone as he settled on a particularly squashy sofa, taking a cup of eggnog from the table as he did so. I was personally going to avoid the stuff.

"It's funny." Bunnymund had settled on a large green chair close to the fire. "Jack's Descendant is practically early, while her ancestor is always late."

"It's just how it is." I said, deciding not to mention the fact that I was still looking for the nearest exit, my nerves were getting that bad.

North appeared to have noticed and leaned forward in his chair. "Are you alright Jackie? You look like you're about to be sick."

I swallowed and gave a nervous smile. "Fine. Just, nerves, maybe."

_"You should have seen her earlier. Shaking like a leaf."_ Laughed Taboo and I shot her a glare.

"Taboo!"

_"What? You can't deny it."_

I grumbled and looked very pointedly out of the window. Where Jack was just happened to be standing.

I yelped and jerked back in surprise as Jack let out a muffled laugh and flew off, presumably to find an open window.

"One day he is going to give me a heart attack."

"I like this girl!" Declared Bunnymund. "She agrees with me!"

I chuckled, remembering the first time we'd ever come across each other, and the massive argument we had.

Jack burst in through the door and landed on the same sofa as me, which instantly raised Bunnymund's hackles.

"Oh no ya don't. For all I know you two are as bad as each other. Different sofas, now."

"I just got in and you're already accusing me of something!" Protested Jack, but he did move sofas.

North clapped his hands, looking somewhat nervously at the door. "The first HOG and Guardian meeting is now in session."

Here goes nothing.

* * *

It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.

The Guardians were not nearly as uptight as the Heads could be, so banter flew back and forth across the room as they gave their reports. There was nothing unusual, the Workshop and the Warren were functioning just fine, tooth collection was going well, nightmares were almost nonexistent and Jack was keeping to his snow day quota.

When it got to me I shuffled my files around, trying to get my words straight in my head.

"Descendant recruitment is going well, 12 overall in the past year; 2 Descendants of Jack Frost, 4 Descendants of North, 4 Descendants of Bunnymund and 2 Descendants Toothiana."

I shuffled the files again, trying to remember something else that was important.

"No activity from the Descendants of Pitch or the Black Furs; Descendants of Lupine loyal to their ancestor." I clarified, seeing the confused look on most of the Guardians faces.

"We've had reports from Tracey's pack that there's some unrest among the Descendants of Mother Nature, but we're not planning on getting involved."

"Why not?" Asked Toothiana.

"Unless it involves the Descendants of Pitch then it's not our business. Technically the Descendants of Lupine aren't our business either, but they came to us so there wasn't much we could do about that."

"I've actually got a few questions about you guys." Said Toothiana, almost shifting in her seat nervously.

"Fire away."

"Well, what do you actually do?"

"Well, HOG keeps the Descendants of Pitch in check, basically to stop them from making the world darker than it already is. It's a balance thing. We stop them getting too big for their boots and they stop us from getting too cocky. They don't like it much though."

"Is that all?"

I tried not to be offended as I answered. She probably just meant that we don't do stuff for kids.

"Pretty much. There's some politics to it surrounding different factions of Descendants."

"Factions?" Now it was Bunnymund's turn to be curious.

"Well, you've got HOG and the Descendants of Pitch, we're two factions that are almost constantly butting heads. Meanwhile you've got the Descendants of Mother Nature who are normally neutral, although given the rumours we're getting that might not be the case anymore. There isn't much info on the Descendants of the Leprechaun, Groundhog, Cupid and Jack O'Lantern. The Descendants of Father Time don't contact anyone anymore and the Descendants of Lupine are easily the most complicated."

One look at the others told me to continue.

"The Descendants of Lupine have three factions amongst themselves; the Black Furs, which are the Descendants loyal to Lupine. You have Tracey's pack, which is affiliated with HOG, and the majority are neutral packs."

My throat was starting to feel dry, so despite my better judgement I reached for a glass of eggnog. It made my throat burn, but it felt less dry, somehow.

"The interesting thing about the Descendants of Lupine is that, outside of the Black Furs, you don't have to be a Descendant of Lupine to join. Last I checked Tracey's pack had some Descendants of Pitch who had decided that they didn't like what their fellow Descendants were doing. In the neutral packs anyone can join if they don't want to fight anyone."

While everyone else let the information sink in Taboo looked at me.

_"Enjoying that eggnog?"_

No

I was struggling not to cough as it went down my throat.

Jack also seemed to notice as he flew over to thump me on the back.

"Let's lay off the eggnog, huh Icicle?"

"Agreed." I said, a little strained from the desire to cough. I had hoped North would have the eggnog with actual egg. Looks like being Russian had a large influence on what was considered alcohol.

North himself frowned and took the glass of eggnog, sniffing it and cursing in Russian.

"Sorry Jackie." He said when he returned to English. "The elves must have been at it, the rest is normal eggnog, right Sandy?"

The Sandman looked up from his glass of eggnog and nodded fervently, having drunk the rest of the normal eggnog.

"Never mind." I said, packing the files away, having not needed most of them. I was surprised by how much I remembered.

"So, is this all wrapped up then?" asked Bunnymund, leaning back in his seat.

"Yes. Feel free to stay overnight, is a long way back." North extended this invitation to everyone around the room.

Toothiana shook her head. "I need to get back to the palace." She rose out of her seat and smiled at the group, nodding to me as well. "Good to see you again Jackie."

"Good to see you too."

I looked back at Jack as Toothiana left, to see that he was talking quietly with Sandman. Given the glances towards me and the conversation we had not too long ago, I knew where this was going.

I stood up quickly, swinging my bag on my back.

"Well, it's been great seeing you all again, but I'd better get going. Bye!"

"Taboo, grab her!" Cried Jack and I felt the bottom of my hoodie get caught by Taboo's teeth.

"Don't you dare Jack Frost. Don't you dare!"

"What is going on here?" Asked North, booming slightly to try and get some kind of order back.

"Have you seen her North? When I looked through the window I thought I saw a panda!"

"Jack." I said through gritted teeth. "I'm fine."

"What are you going on about?" Asked Bunnymund and I gave a futile tug on my hoodie. Taboo was not on my side tonight.

Jack almost seemed to ignore Bunnymund and turned to Sandman. "Sandy, is it normal for someone to look this tired?"

I decided to lie and come up a believable excuse at the same time.

"Look, I didn't sleep well last night because I was nervous about the meeting. Are you happy now?"

Taboo let out a low, threatening growl and I froze in place, having not heard that noise being directed at me.

_"Yeah, you didn't get much sleep last night, and no, nerves probably didn't help."_ Taboo growled, fully aware that everyone could hear her. _"But that wasn't the main reason, was it?"_

I made my own growling noise out of combined exasperation and desperation. The Guardians didn't need to know this!

Before anyone could ask what Taboo was talking about Sandman flashed up some images. A question mark and a horse.

I scowled as the remaining Guardians easily translated, and turned to me.

"It doesn't matter." I said, giving my hoodie another tug. "It doesn't concern you as Guardians and it's not an issue."

Jack snorted. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Bunnymund came round and squinted at my face. "Yep, definitely the panda look."

I gave Jack my best evil look as North also came round and confirmed that I did indeed, look like I needed some decent sleep.

"I'll get some sleep when I got back. So let GO TABOO!" I cried, giving my hoodie another tug. The material didn't give, but sadly neither did Taboo's jaws.

_"At least admit it's a problem."_

"It isn't." I practically growled.

"Jackie."

I looked up at Jack, his arms folded and his face concerned. "I'm your friend, and I'm worried about you. Just let us help."

I opened to my mouth to say that I didn't need his help, and shut it again.

I was brought back to just over a decade ago, Sally had distracted some bullies that were bothering me and allowed me to get away. Even though she was just trying to help, I yelled at her, telling her that I didn't need protection, angry that she thought I couldn't handle it myself.

It was the same here now. Jack knew what I could do, and knew that I wasn't weak, he wasn't trying to say that. He was just trying to help me, and I was being too stubborn and proud to see it.

My shoulders slumped as I admitted defeat. I didn't want to put Jack through what I had put Sally through.

"...Fine."

Jack blinked, clearly surprised that I'd given up so easily.

"I get nightmares, regularly. Are you happy now?"

Just mentioning brought back some memories of those nightmares and I tensed up slightly, trying to block them out.

Taboo let go of my hoodie and Jack smiled slightly.

"At least you admitted it now."

"Yeah. Now can I go?"

"Not yet."

I gave Jack an exasperated look, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Sandman preparing some Dreamsand, and I panicked.

"No no no! Not happening!"

I made a break for it, but before I got to the door I felt my knees buckle. With less than a second I was out.

* * *

I woke up several hours later, feeling better after sleeping than I had in a long time.

I was on the same sofa that I'd been sitting on for the meeting, but there was no one else there now except for Taboo. The fire had been put out, but the fairy lights were still twinkling.

"Sleep well?"

I rolled around slightly to see that Jack was still around, crouching on the sofa opposite.

"...I hate you."

"Sure you do." Jack grinned. "You look better though."

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes, still feeling a little groggy.

"...Thanks, though."

Jack grin grew, as if he knew how much it dented my pride to say that. "You're welcome."

My blurry eyes focused on the low table, where my glasses were sitting on top of a book. A book that hadn't been there during the meeting.

I pushed myself up onto my elbow, displacing a blanket that had been placed over me. I reached out for my glasses and put them on, now able to read the title clearly.

"The Inexplicable Unexplainables of Atlantis volume one." I read, my excitement rising. This was the book I hadn't gotten to finish last time I was here.

Jack, who probably knew why that was there, recognised the look on my face.

"Go on." He laughed. "I know what you're like with books."

Trying to keep some dignity I plucked the book from the table and sat up on the sofa. I tucked my feet under my body and flicked open to where I had finished last time. I barely even heard Jack putting on soft music and leaving.


	61. Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice

The next one was during the Spring Equinox, and it was in Bunnymund's Warren.

I was leaving early again, but I was hoping to make a good impression on the Pooka. Especially with Easter this close, I'd heard from Jack that he's usually more grumpy and highly strung around this time of year.

Taboo and I exited to the Warren entrance, and the first thing I did was pull off my hoodie and tie it around my waist. It was what many would probably call pleasantly warm, but for me it was just a little too warm.

_"Wow, nothing says spring like this place huh?"_ Was Taboo's reaction, and I had to agree. We were only at the entrance, where a lot of other Tunnels were, but the grass was lush and green, mossy rocks were dotted around and brightly coloured flowers were in full bloom.

I was more in line of thinking the winter landscape was the best, but I had to admit, this was beautiful.

One of the many egg golems lumbered forward towards us, then turned around to walk away. A second later it turned back around to look at us.

Taboo and I looked at each other.

_It wants us to follow?_

"Looks like it."

We followed the egg golem deeper into the Warren, and we were going unusually slowly, because there was just so much to take in.

Flower beds were a riot of colour, eggs marched in formation to get painted, rivers full of multicoloured dye wound their way throughout the meadow filled Warren.

Finally we reached Bunnymund, who was sitting by one of these rivers, observing the dying process and painting some his own eggs. His ear twitched and he turned to see the three of us behind him.

"Urgh, that time already?" He groaned, setting aside the egg he was painting and standing up.

"We're just early." I said, and Bunnymund raised an eyebrow.

"'Course ya are." He sighed. "Look, we've still gotta wait fer the others, and I gotta keep paintin', so why don't ya just sit out of the way fer a bit?"

I was a little annoyed by the dismissal, but knew better than to say anything. Taboo on the other growled in annoyance.

I shot her a warning glance and looked back at Bunnymund.

"Okay, anywhere in particular?"

"Just, somewhere. Don't wander off too far, and don't frost anything!"

"I won't." I assured, before looking around and settling on a small hill in the same glade. Taboo and I walked over to it and sat down on top of it, getting a great few of the eggs marching through below us.

I looked back over my shoulder at Bunnymund to see that he had gone back to his work, so I shuffled around to get my sketchbook out of my hoodie pocket and started drawing the scene below me.

* * *

"Jackie? Jackie you in there?"

I jumped out of skin and looked over my shoulder to see Jack behind me, leaning on his staff.

"Oh, hi." I said, quickly closing my sketchbook and putting it away. "Is everyone else here?"

"Yeah, Bunny just remembered that you were here."

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm flattered."

Jack chuckled. "He is busy." He looked back down the hill. "So, you joining us or what?"

"We're coming." I said, nudging Taboo out of her doze. She shook her head to clear it from sleep and lumbered to her feet. With that we went back down the hill.

* * *

Bunny ran through the Tunnels, not really sure what to feel.

On one hand, this was a meeting with HOG, on their turf, so it was bound to be annoying. On the other hand, some of them had turned out to not be so bad, so the meeting might not be as bad as all that.

Bunny exited the Tunnel to find that he was at the top of a really tall cavern.

"Crikey!" He cried in surprise, taking a step back from the edge of the spiralling platform. Who in their right mind would make a cavern this tall, and have entrances at the top?

Bunny's ears detected a cough, and turned to his left to see Alexander standing there. There was something else Bunny had mixed feelings about. Alexander was supposedly his Descendant, related to the Pookas, and yet there was little to nothing of the Pookas left in them, making them almost an insult in Bunny's eyes.

At the same time, they didn't ask for this, and he'd be lying if he said that they weren't good people. They were just like the rest of HOG, odd.

"Good morning Mr Bunnymund." Said Alexander and Bunny waved him off. That was another thing that irritated him, the bloody politeness. It was just weird.

"Just call me Bunny." He said, looking around. "No Jackie?"

"Jackie's already in the Council Chamber." Alexander seemed to be struggling to hold back a laugh. "She's, um, well, you'll see."

Bunny raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Alright then, lead on."

"Okay."

To Bunny's surprise Alexander stepped off the edge, but before the Head could fall a pillar of earth rose up from below to catch him. Alexander turned to his ancestor and tried not to laugh at the surprised and almost panicked face.

"It'll be quicker this way." He said, moving over and allowing Bunny to step onto the platform. The Guardian was a little wary, but decided to trust the Head.

The earth pillar sank back into the earth quicker than he would have liked, but he quickly recovered and followed Alexander into the Main Cavern.

The Cavern was large, not as large as the main part of the Warren, but still big, and utterly deserted.

Alexander had already gone up a ridge which led to a pair of double doors with HOG's logo carved into it. Bunny followed more slowly, trying to remember everything.

Alexander out his hand on the door, but started talking instead of opening them.

"The others are already here, and they'll try to remain calm, mainly because I think Jackie will freeze us otherwise. But, just try to be patient with us, please?"

"Sure sure." Said Bunny, honestly he'd expected something like that. "Let's just get on with it."

Alexander pushed the door open and Bunny got his first look inside the Council Chamber.

The Chamber was brightly lit, although there weren't any actual lights. A long table dominated the room, with six, tall, coloured chairs at the far end, all but one of which were occupied. Bunnymund frowned when he saw the wheelchair behind the yellow chair. He hadn't seen anything like that when the Heads were staying at the Pole.

All the way down were brown chairs of a normal height, and next to the tall grey chair was a tall, white one, which was empty.

Alexander gestured for Bunny to sit down in the white chair, and when the Pooka sat down the chair changed colour. It went a mixture of green, pink and yellow; spring colours.  
Bunny had to smile at that, it was certainly an interesting idea.

Alexander sat down in the green chair on the other side of the grey one, which had the wolf girl sitting in it. She nodded to Bunny as he entered and returned to looking down the table.

Bunny scanned the rest of the table. Jason appeared to be the only one who was struggling to remain calm. Samson, Claire and Alexander were calm and relaxed, waiting for the meeting to start.

As for Jackie, she was asleep.

Bunny couldn't believe it. From what he'd seen Jackie was actually quite diligent, more disciplined than her ancestor. And she was sleeping on the job!?

Bunny did make note of the dark shadows that were still under the woman's eyes, but that was no excuse. She did look remarkably like Frostbite though, if you ignored the glasses and the brown fringe over the right side of her forehead.

Jason had noticed as well, and called out in a booming voice.

"JACQUELINE!"

She woke with a start and sat bolt upright, looking around the room in a panic before relaxing and leaned back in her chair. Jason on the other hand sighed.

"Jacqueline, I appreciate that it's summer, but that does not give you an excuse to fall asleep for the meeting."

"Alright, I'm sorry." Jackie replied irritably, and Bunny could see Jason almost puffing up in annoyance. Then Jason seemed to realise that Bunny was in the room and calmly deflated.

"We'll discuss this later." He said, and Jackie didn't even seem to care. She still had her hood up, and Bunny had seen Jack with his up enough times to know that it meant 'leave me alone'.

Bunny just shook his head, he could understand why Alexander was the one meeting him, Jackie during summer seemed to be downright moody. It was relatively cool down here, but even this seemed to be too much for the Descendant of Frost.

So, without any official opening, the meeting started. Bunny admittedly found it boring, it was mainly about how many new Descendants they'd found, and the lack of Nightmares. Then it got to Jackie.

"No new Descendants." She reported. "The ones we do have are badgering me for more workshops during the summer. There's only so much I can teach, and I'm still learning the stuff in the Bergland books myself."

"Whether or not you increase the number of workshops is up to you." Said Alexander patiently. "Although, if you all react to summer in the same way, why not just take a day trip somewhere cold?"

Jackie tapped her chin. "You know, that's not a bad idea. Thanks."

"Welcome."

Now it was Bunny's turn.

"Things are on schedule in the Warren and Pole, Tooth's fine and Sandy's still spreadin' dreams. Frostbi-Jack's bored outta 'is mind, and tha's about it. All good our end."

"Excellent, we can wrap up early then." Said Jason, starting to stand up.

Bunny blinked, that was it? This was all they talked about?

"Hold on." Said Alexander, reaching beside his chair. Jason sat back down and everyone watched as Alexander pulled out a long, thin parcel wrapped in blue paper and put it on the table, pushing it towards the blue chair.

"Happy birthday Jackie."

Bunny frowned and Jackie almost groaned, smiling at the last minute. The Head of the Descendants of Jack Frost had her birthday on the summer Solstice? Seriously?

_"Yep, it is Jackie's birthday."_ Said Taboo, who'd kept quiet during the whole meeting. _"And she's not happy that it's been brought up."_

Bunny saw the forced smile on Jackie's face and agreed. Jackie looked anything but enthusiastic right about now.

She still played along though and opened the present. Inside was a two metre long staff in a leather sheath. The sheath wasn't plain though, it was dyed dark blue and threaded with silver, making very accurate frost patterns. Jackie pulled the staff out of the sheath and examined it.

It was made of a pure white metal, with frost patterns curling around it and silver eight sided snowflakes had been painted down the entire length and Bunny could see the letter 'H' on the end closest to him. The two ends of the staff were domed, rather than flat, making it look a little more decorative. Although in the right hands, Bunny didn't doubt that it could cause some serious damage.

Jackie seemed to be curious now, standing up and holding the staff, which stood a little taller than her, standing at about two metres. She moved away from the table and spun it over in her hands, then seemingly as an experiment she added ice to one end to turn into a spear.

"It's name is Istapp. Norwegian for Icicle." Said Alexander.

"Thanks Alexander." She said, sounded honestly grateful, "But, is it made of what I think it's made off?"

"Meteor metal? Yes." Said Alexander. "We couldn't find any more raw material in time, so we had to melt down and re-forge the sword that was meant for you."

"Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"We thought Alfred had mentioned it to you." Said Claire, sounding confused. "The five weapons we do have made of meteor metal were for each set of Descendants, if you didn't have a signature weapon then it was automatically a sword. Now we know you have a signature weapon we changed it."

Jackie nodded, absorbing the information. "Thanks."

"As interestin' as this is." Said Bunny, who had gotten disinterested. "I need ta get back to the Warren."

"I'll show you out." Volunteered Alexander, and Bunny just decided to go with it.

"Alright, see ya guys later."

**For note, the autumn equinox will not be covered, as it also takes place in HOG Base. Also, for those who have read or are reading this after Black Sheep is finished, this is the main HOG timeline, so this is when Jackie would come across Istapp is Mim didn't exist.**


	62. Jackie and Tooth

**Now I can post this!  
**

Jackie was early for the meeting again, and had her nose buried in a book as Tooth flew in.

Tooth smiled at the Descendant, but decided not to disturb her, nor the quiet of the meeting room. For once the two of them were ridiculously early, with North still in his office. However, it wasn't necessarily the best pair to put together.

Tooth could tell the Jackie didn't like her. Actually, that probably wasn't all that accurate, Tooth had not introduced herself to Jackie in the best way when they first met. The latter had been stressed, tired and in pain, and Tooth had flown in and nearly burnt her mouth. It wouldn't surprise Tooth if Jackie had forgiven her for that, but Jackie could never seem to relax around Tooth after that.

Taboo looked up as Tooth flew in and settled down in her chair near the fire. The tiger nodded to the Tooth Fairy and lay her head back down on her paws, lying in front of the sofa Jackie was sitting on.

Tooth did want to talk to Jackie, as the only other girl in the meeting, Tooth felt that there was a lot to talk about, and that she should at least try to find some common ground with the Descendant.

The problem was of course, was that Tooth didn't really know how Jackie saw her now. Like she said, Jackie never seemed to be able to relax around Tooth, and Tooth really wanted to know what the issue was.

It didn't help that Jackie was like Jack in so many ways, and Tooth and Jack got on really well, so she wanted to get on with Jackie.

Before anything could be said Jack came bounding in, quickly and easily starting up a conversation with Jackie. She even put her book down and was smiling as she talked with Jack, the pair very animated with their conversation.

The others quickly arrived and the meeting got underway and Tooth missed her chance to grab Jackie. Maybe she'd have a chance later, she didn't have to disappear straight away, and she hoped that Jackie didn't have to either.

Once the meeting had come into an end Tooth looked over at Jackie, who was looking at her watch. She seemed to decide that she had time, so went back to her book. Now was Tooth's chance.

She flew over to the woman and Jackie looked up from her book, having heard her.

"Hey Toothiana."

"Hey Jackie." Tooth was smiling broadly, but tried not to sound too enthusiastic, so not to scare Jackie off. "I was wondering something."

"Yeah?"

"I know you never got to see Punjam Hy Loo in its prime last time you were there. I thought you'd might like to see it."

Jackie's face remained neutral as she considered this offer. "It's a generous offer Toothiana, but I'd hate to bother you while you work."

"It's no bother!" Insisted Tooth, heart sinking as Jackie still insisted on called her by her full name. "I'd thought, we'd might get to know each other outside of these meetings."

Jackie tilted her head to the side, thinking and Tooth struggled not to celebrate, Jackie was actually considering it. There was progress with the unsociable Descendant!

_"Sounds good to me." _Said Taboo, adding her opinion. The tiger then looked up at Jackie. _"Oh, don't be like that! Work can wait!"_

Tooth didn't miss but decided to over look Jackie's wary look as the Descendant remained silent. What on earth would make Jackie wary of Tooth? She had learnt that Jackie couldn't handle her body temperature and had made sure to not initiate unexpected body contact, so what was the issue?

"Yeah, okay." Said Jackie and Tooth beamed.

"Great! When are you free?"

"Erm, I have some free days between Christmas and New Year. Some Head stuff might pop up, but sometime during those few days."

"That's fine. See you then."

Jackie nodded, and again Tooth chose to ignore the fact that Jackie looked like she might be regretting this.

* * *

I was not looking forward to this.

I stood in front of the Burgess Branch Tunnel entrance, trying to get myself to stomp my foot to go down it.

I had nothing against Toothiana, far from it. I admired her work, but I guess I was just nervous around her, she was just so, energetic and could be extremely enthusiastic. These weren't bad qualities, they just made me uneasy.

_"Oh, just get on with it!"_ Growled Taboo, who was in her usual position in my hood. _"The longer you put it off, the worse it will be."_

I nodded, took a deep breath and thumped my foot twice on the ground by the purple flower. The ground opened up and I jumped down it, landing on the ground as ice formed and I skated down it.

Taboo leapt out of my hood and ran alongside me, easily keeping up with me on the ice. We exited to the Departure Cavern and I went straight up on a column of ice, heading straight for the top.

I found the Tunnel to the Tooth Palace and didn't dare stop moving, just in case I changed my mind. I'd been doing that since Christmas, and it was now the day before New Years Eve, Taboo wasn't going to let me stop now.

We popped out of the Tunnel and I quickly came across two problems. One, we were outside the Palace, with no clear way in. Two, we were in a rainforest, and it was BOILING!

"TOOTHIANA!" I yelled as I pulled off my hoodie, already forming a layer of frost on my body, which helped a bit. "I'M OUTSIDE! CAN YOU OPEN THE DOOR OR SOMETHING?! PLEASE!"

Within a few seconds a cloud of Mini Fairies appeared from the mountain and I could tell what was going to happen. They were going to try and carry us in.

"I'll follow you guys." I said quickly, before any of them could grab me with their burning fingers. Okay, that wasn't fair to them, but there was only so much I could take.

The Mini Fairy leader, Baby Tooth I think, shrugged and turned around, waving at me to follow her with a few squeaks. I went up on an ice bridge and followed the cloud up the mountain toward one of the entrances. Taboo and I went through it, and I finally got a good look at Punjam Hy Loo.

It was the same structurally as the last time I was here, but it was in much better shape. The paint glowed with colour, the gold gleamed and it was busy.

Mini Fairies were darting around all over the place, either returning with a tooth or leaving with a coin. I looked up at the seven main pillars and at the various platforms and columns, seeing it almost completely filled with Mini Fairies.

Instead of being unbearably noisy and busy as I expected, the activity seemed right and comforting. Very different to the unnerving quiet that had been present in my last visit.

There were so many places to explore, but I decided that it was best to at least let Toothiana know that I was here. I used an ice bridge to get up to a platform, then walked and jumped around the palace, trying to find the Queen of the Tooth Fairies.

Taboo and I found her eventually, in the centre of the seven enormous pillars. She was fluttering around, giving rapid fire orders to the Mini Fairies, and I was reminded of why I had been worried. She was clearly busy and being extremely fast, I was almost afraid to interrupt.

Taboo on the other hand, had no such issues.

_"Hey Tooth!"_ She called and I winced at the shortening of Toothiana's name. We'd only met her a few times, I still wasn't comfortable calling her by her nickname. Not to mention HOG had drilled respect for immortals into me, so it felt even more wrong calling her by her nickname.

Tooth looked up and smiled when she saw us. She put a nearby Mini Fairy in charge and flew out to greet us.

"Hey you two! I'm glad you got in alright."

"Well, we got spat out outside, so we got a little confused." I admitted.

"I heard you anyway. So, do you want a tour, or just to talk?"

_"Just talk, please."_ Taboo tried to say without whimpering, and I held back a laugh. Taboo's fear of heights was out in full force.

"Jackie, what do you say?"

"Let's just talk, just so we don't antagonise Taboo." I put on a stage whisper. "She's afraid of heights."

_"HEY!"_ Cried Taboo as Toothiana and I tried to stifle our giggling.

"Okay." Said Toothiana, calming down. "Let's go over there to talk." She pointed to a nearby large platform which was easy for us to get to.

"What about?" I asked as we started walking.

Toothiana stopped in her tracks. "...I hadn't actually thought of that..."

I shook my head and kept walking, relaxed now that Toothiana wasn't moving around quite so much. I wasn't sure there was much to talk about. I knew Toothiana's past from the files, and she knew a large chunk of mine. What else was there to say?

"Well, I don't know if we have the same interests." I said, sitting down on the platform and Taboo curled up beside me, keeping as far from the edge as possible.

Toothiana quickly joined me, sitting down on the platform while stilling her wings. "Well, what do you do when not with HOG?"

"I er, I train, work in a bookshop..." I trailed off, other than drawing, I didn't do anything else.

"So, not much of a social life?"

"Er, no."

"Why not? I thought a lot of people went out these days."

"They do, I just, don't."

"Is there a reason?"

I shrugged. "I just don't like it."

Toothiana had a sympathetic expression, radically difficult from Tina's expression on this, which was usually exasperation.

I coughed in embarrassment and tried to change the subject. "So, what about you? Do you get up to anything outside of work?"

Toothiana blushed slightly. "No. Other than the Guardian meetings, I don't really leave the palace."

Wow, she had a worse social life than me.

"Doesn't it get boring?"

"Not at all!" Cried Toothiana. "There's always a new tooth and a new memory to log. It never ends!"

She looked extremely enthusiastic over teeth, good that she was happy with her job though.

"Do you sleep?"

"I nap."

"That doesn't sound healthy." I commented.

_"Says you, miss 'nightmares most nights'."_ Snorted Taboo.

I let out an irritated noise from the back of my throat. Toothiana hadn't been there when Sandman and Jack confronted me about it, so she didn't need to know.

"I'd say I was fine." Said Toothiana, but her face grew serious. "But, nightmares?"

I sighed and glared at Taboo. "...I've had nightmares on and off for a few years. They fizzled out a few years after the Lupine episode, but they came back when Alexander and I came to the Pole."

I wanted to stop there, but Taboo let out a growl. "...And I still get them most nights. It's not Pitch." I jumped in as Toothiana opened her mouth. "It's just my imagination going nuts."

"But still, that's horrible!"

"I've gotten used to it." I said with a shrug. "And I've a system for it." Seeing Toothiana's curious face I elaborated.

"I wake up, then go out for a run, either through Burgess or do some rooftop running in the nearby town. Really clears the cobwebs."

"That's still not good though. You should get counselling for that."

I snorted. "I had enough therapy when I first joined HOG, and I can't afford it on my salary."

"You don't get paid being a Head?"

"No. Who would pay us?" I asked. "Officially, we don't exist!"

"I thought you Descendants had a whole underground system worked out."

I shrugged. "We don't want to involve money unless it involves getting raw materials from outside sources. When it comes to other Descendants we usually trade."

Toothiana nodded. "Okay, but you should see someone about those nightmares."

"It's fine. They'll fade eventually."

"And what if they don't?"

"Then they don't. And that's fine."

Toothiana shook her head. "I had no idea you could be so stubborn."

"Wonder where I get that from?" I asked, and Toothiana let out an unladylike snort.

"Yeah, I wonder."

We shared a laugh before falling into silence.

"...It's nice to see you relax."

"Huh?" I asked intelligently.

Toothiana shifted her position slightly. "Well, I guess I've never seen you relax around me."

I looked over in surprise, then down at my feet. I hadn't realised that she'd noticed. She was more observant than I thought.

"Jackie?"

"Huh? Oh." I coughed again nervously. "I didn't think you'd noticed."

_Yeah, great thing to say there Jackie._

"I'm not blind."

"I know, I know." I said, not sure what to say.

"...I guess you want to know why?" I asked. "Is that actually why you invited me here? I had no idea you were such a mastermind."

"Yes and no." Admitted Toothiana. "I did want you to see the palace how it should be, but I was curious."

I let out a long breath through my nose and tapped the platform beneath me repeatedly, frost forming in small curls.

"I don't really know." I admitted. "I guess, well, we didn't exactly start off well."

"You got off worse with Bunny." Toothiana pointed out.

"I suppose. I just guess I never got on with my own gender." Wow, that was great thing to admit. "Most girls my age were idiots, and in some cases just cruel."

"There must have been some nice girls."

"Maybe, but I guess we never came across each other." I shook my head. "Really, I'm not sure."

I looked back up at Toothiana. "But, I think I'm getting over it."

"Good." A thought seemed to occur to Toothiana. "You don't have to call me by my full name either you know."

"Sorry, the idea got drilled into me."

Toothiana shook her head. "Seriously, just call me Tooth."

"Okay, Tooth."

Tooth's face split into a smile. "Okay, enough serious talk. Surely you do more than just work and train."

"Well, I like to read... and draw."

"Drawing? Can I see?"

I felt my face go red as I fished into my hoodie pocket and pulled out my sketchpad. "They're just sketches." I said as I handed it to Tooth.

Tooth cracked it open and had a look through. "They're good, no, they're great! You could become a professional artist!"

I shrugged, feeling my face burn even redder. "Well, I don't know about that."

"At least try. You never know." She said, handing the sketchpad back to me. "Do you want to try sketching the palace?"

"You don't mind?"

"Course not! I have to get back to work, but you can stay as long as you want to."

I went into a cross legged position, with my sketchpad on my knees. "Thanks."

Tooth smiled and flew back to work as I scanned the area, looking for something to sketch. I stood up and backed up slowly, my eyes in artist mode as I looked for something good to draw.

I used ice to get down to a lower level, and had a look around. I could see the area where, nearly a decade ago, the Guardians and the Heads had been held hostage. I decided to avoid that area though, but it wasn't the only area with a pool of water.

I found a new area, a pool of water in the mountain rock framed by pink blossomed trees. It was almost aching beautiful, so I knew I had to draw it.

I settled down on the rock, set my phone to shuffle for music, and began sketching. Taboo went off to explore the lower parts of the palace, but I paid her no heed as the soft scratching of graphite and soft music filled my ears.

* * *

Tooth stopped in her work as soft music reached her ears. Frowning on confusion she paused and looked around, trying to find the source. She placed a Mini Fairy in command as she left the main hub of her work and flew around the palace, searching for the location of the music.

The song changed midway through the search, to a song Tooth had never heard before.

She finally found out where it was coming from. Jackie was sitting cross legged in front of one of the many pools in the palace, quietly sketching as music played from her phone.

She looked, relaxed, and happy. Like Jack, Jackie seemed to an independent, and almost lonely soul, and Tooth couldn't ask her to change, again like Jack she was too set in her ways. However, Tooth was glad that Jackie had opened up to her a bit.

Calling each other friends might still be a stretch, it was a step in the right direction. She wanted to know the girl who had given Jack companionship when he needed it, and vice versa.

Tooth smiled to herself, and decided to give Jackie some space to her work.

**Okay, some stuff to say about this one. One, this takes place in the original HOG universe, just like all the other one shots unless otherwise stated. Second, one thing I sometimes forget while writing, and also HOG forgets, is that the Guardians are honestly nice people, so it makes sense in my head that they'll try and get along with them. Then the second story in the HOG/Mimpossible universe happens, but that's not going to be out for a while yet.  
I honestly think that Tooth would be the one to try first, with Sandy, North then Bunny. Although Bunny's kinda interesting, as he thinks that his Descendants are related to the Pookas, which would probably be conflicting for him. He doesn't know that they aren't, not biologically anyway. So he might just be odd about Descendants in general.**

**Think that's all for now. Shapeshifter out!**


	63. Flying

I watched Tina carefully from the sidelines as she sparred with Billy. She was probably the only one other than Nigel to truly put him through his paces. The reason was because she could fly.

I'm not a fan of flying in a craft, I tend to get airsick, but I was willing to bet that if I could actually fly then I wouldn't feel ill. I didn't when I free fell, this wouldn't be much different, more literally falling with style. I'd already looked through the Bergland books we got a couple of years back and I wasn't quite at the level where I supposed to be able to create and control limbs of ice. I couldn't even move while using psychic ice, but I wanted to try.

Call me picky, but I didn't want to use insect wings, I wanted feathered wings, but asking someone about that was difficult. So I was just watching Tina, seeing how she moved in the air, seeing her tactics to log away and use later.

Taboo looked over and rolled her eyes. "_You and flying. You might as well go the Peter Pan route."_

_Think happy thoughts? Not sure that's really going to help me._

"Jackie! Sally! You're up!" Called Nigel and I was up to spar, but the idea of flying didn't leave.

* * *

I hadn't forgotten about flying by the time the Spring Equinox meeting rolled around. I'd complied a slightly more comprehensive overview of the events since Christmas, new Descendants, Descendant of Lupine/Pitch activity and some more on the Descendants of Mother Nature. Civil war was starting it seemed, but we didn't want to get involved just yet. Some other Descendant groups had gone suspiciously quiet as well.

We all rattled off our pieces in Bunnymund's Warren as usual. They were getting used to me, helped by when I agreed to go to the Tooth Palace on Toothiana's invitation. I still wasn't comfortable calling them by their nicknames, although Toothiana had managed to get me to do it with her.

Once we'd said our pieces the others started talking about general stuff. I was packing up my staff while Taboo was sniffing around. Bunnymund was watching her out of the corner of his eye, but she'd learnt the hard way not to mess with his eggs at this time of year. She was still had pink tinges behind the ears from that and Jack wasn't going to let me forget about it any time soon.

I would normally be calling her over by now, but there was something I wanted to ask Toothiana. As Bunnymund and Jack bantered and North and Sandy discussed Christmas ideas, I sidled up to Toothiana, a bit awkwardly.

"Hey."

"Hey Jackie!" Said Toothiana with her trademark enthusiasm. I was starting to get used to it, I think. She might have been toning it down for me.

"I was hoping I could ask you about something." I said, images of how Toothiana used to be a century or so ago. She had more bird like wings back in the day, so was one of the perfect people to ask.

"Fire away."

"Well, I was wondering if I could ask you about flying?"

"Flying?" Toothiana frowned slightly. "I can see why you asked me, but I'd thought you'd ask Jack."

"I can't fly like he can." I said with a shrug. "I've been reading some texts that suggest I could use ice to form wings, and I thought you'd be the best person to go to for some advice."

Toothiana's million watt smile was back and I was blinking back after images as she spoke.

"I'd love to help! Let's go sit down somewhere."

We moved over to a series of rocks and I sat down on one of them while Toothiana stopped hovering and slowly lowered herself down.

"So, what do you need to know?"

I opened my hands and concentrated, pulling and freezing the local airborne moisture to form a rough set of wings. They were small, about as long as my dagger.

"I was hoping you could help me with how each part works." A lot of the time I felt embarrassed when I needed to ask for help, but in this case I felt that in the pursuit of knowledge, it was better to ask someone with practical experience.

So Toothiana started talking me through the primaries, secondaries and covert feathers, how each of them worked and how they all came together as a functioning wing. Then, finally, how each wing worked in tandem with each other.

I practically absorbed the information, adjusting and changing the rough wings so that they were more accurate, functional. Obviously the wings I had now would not get me off the ground, in order to do that they'd need to be at least twice my height in length.

Once we were done I shrank them down and stowed them my pocket to study and experiment with later.

We went to join the others and Toothiana said. "You're welcome to come to Punjum Hy Loo any time if you want to go over it again." She had a soft smile as she said this.

I was under no illusion that Toothiana did actually want to get to know me, and was using this as an excuse to talk more. I wasn't sure I was ready for that. She was a nice person, don't get me wrong, it was just a little intimidating when I remembered her history.

"That's a generous offer. I'll think about it. Thanks."

Toothiana nodded, seeing that I wasn't going to give more on that. Her hand moved as if to pat me on the shoulder, but she remembered how much I disliked it, so withdrew.

"See you next meeting guys!" She called before disappearing down one Tunnel. I smiled and called out loud.

"Taboo! Time to go!"

"Aw." Jack complained. "We didn't get to talk more."

"You know where to find me." I added with a smirk as Taboo lumbered over one of the inclines.

"Kept out of trouble?" I asked her, and she nodded.

_"Yeah, I found an elf."_

"An, elf?" I asked, tilting my head to one side.

_"Yeah. Dunno what he was doing down here, but he was up to being chased around."_

"Is he still in one piece?"

_"Yes! What do you take me for?"_

"You probably don't want me to answer that question."

_"Hey! I can play nice! Sometimes."_

I chuckled while Bunnymund clearly didn't know what to think and nearly everyone else was struggling not to laugh. Although I think North was concerned as to why an elf was in the Warren.

"You'd better go then, before Bunny's brain explodes." Jack laughed, and Bunnymund scowled at him. I decided to heed that before it got ugly.

Taboo practically dragged her heels as we left, wanted to see the action unfold, however a look from me was enough to get her leave it.

_"Shame, I wanted to watch the fireworks."_ She grumbled.

"Personally, I don't want to get in Bunnymund's way if he's ticked off."

_"You don't know that he is."_

"I'm not risking it."

_"You're boring."_

"I'm sure you'll survive."

**I have a few things to say about this one.**

**The bits with the Descendants of Mother Nature I do not intend to elaborate on. I'm taking this from Darren Shan's 'Demonata' and I can't quote it exactly, but it basically says that even when the story ends, life keeps going. While Jackie's main story has ended, life for Descendants has not, and things will still happen. They just won't be novelised.**

**Next note is on Jackie's character, she likes to be control, specifically, in full control of herself, which is why she doesn't like people getting inside her head, figuratively and literally. That also means that she would to learn to fly her own way, rather than rely on someone else. It's a nice combined character trait and flaw in my opinion. Jackie is capable and independent, which can lead to her being too proud to accept help or not admitting that she needs it. This is a time when she overcomes that, but it isn't going away**.


	64. Snowflakes

I was early for the meeting today.

I wasn't the earliest, it did surprise me that the only person there was Sally, cutting into a weirdly folded piece of paper.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, sitting down in one of the chairs that been set up, presumably by Sally.

"On their way." Said Sally, not taking her eyes off her paper and scissors. "Except Tina, she's ill."

"Oh." I wasn't quite sure what to say to that. I'd never been ill.

"Nothing serious, it's just a cold, but she doesn't want to leave her flat." Sally shook her head, her plaited bit of hair swinging. "She can be such a drama queen sometimes."

"Right." I said, still not sure on how to respond, I still wasn't great one on one with the Branch, in a group fine, I had Billy to bounce off of, but alone, especially with Sally, who didn't talk much, I found myself struggling. I leaned back in my chair, but I still couldn't help watching what Sally was doing.

"What are you doing?"

"Making snowflakes."

"Couldn't you have just asked me?" I asked, trying to make a joke. It seemed to work as Sally smirked.

"I could, but there's something fun about making paper snowflakes. You're never quite sure what it'll look like until it's done."

On cue she unfolded it to reveal a round piece of paper with holes cut out of it, and it did look like a snowflake.

"Wow." I said, looking at it. "How did you do that?"

"Easy." She reached into her bag and pulled out another pair of scissors and bit of paper and handed them to me. She grabbed another bit paper for herself. "Watch."

She folded one side down along the other edge to make a square, then cut off the length at the bottom. She then folded into a triangle, then folded it in on itself to make another right angle triangle. Finally she took the two longer corners and folded one halfway across the triangle, then the other corner was folded the same way around the back. Finally Sally took the scissors and chopped off the two ends sticking out.

"And then you cut patterns into the sides." She said. "You try."

I frowned and tried to put what I'd seen into actions as I folded and cut the paper. After messing up a few times on the folding I got to the final stage, and started cutting patterns into the sides, like Sally was doing.

I was starting simply, so not to mess it up, but I was tempted to try more complicated cuts, like maybe half an animal or something? I kept it to swirls and circles though, since this was my first one.

"Ready to unfold?" Asked Sally, once she saw that I was actually out of space on my snowflake.

"Yeah."

We unfolded at the same time and my heart plummeted. Sally's was really pretty, perfectly round with large chunks cut out, making it look delicate like a proper snowflake. Mine was oval and childish, with small shapes cut out, making it look chunky.

"Hey, that's good for your first time." Said Sally, clearly seeing my face fall. "I've been making these for years."

"Still not good." I muttered, resisting the temptation to crumple up the snowflake.

"You shouldn't expect perfection first time round. It takes time to learn a skill." Said Sally softly. "Here." She handed me another piece of paper. "The others might still be a while, let's see how many we can make before they arrive."

"Okay." I took the paper and began the same folding movements. "What are we going to do with these?"

"I was going to decorate the meeting hall." Said Sally, and I looked around at our meeting place. The walls were plain, light woods, with the floor being the same laminated wood. The only things that said that this place was used was the ajar equipment door to the right and the targets at the far end, which were too big to go in the equipment room. The room didn't even have any windows, it was lit entirely by several bare bulbs that swung between the rafters above our heads.

"I guess it could use some decoration." I agreed, and got back to making snowflakes, determined to make them at least half decent.


	65. Pranking

I was early, and bored.

I leaned back on the blue sofa and let out a sigh through my nose as I looked up, and saw the rafters above my head.

Taboo just sighed and shook her head as she realised my intent.

_"Do what you want, but I'm not going up there."_

"Suit yourself." I said as I climbed up onto the back of the sofa. I balanced easily and took a leap for the nearest rafter. I gripped the bottom of it with my fingertips and I scrambled to get a proper grip before I fell back down.

I grabbed the rafter's properly and started swinging back and forth. Once at the top of my arc I pulled myself up and onto the rafter. From there I just sat down on it and swung my legs like a small child, a habit I did have for a while but like a lot of things I used to do, it disappeared when I was seven.

The door creaked open and I jumped up onto my feet, now in a crouched position as Bunnymund entered the room.

I smothered a giggle as Bunnymund looked at Taboo, then started scanning the room for me.

"Where's Frosty?"

Before I could tell Taboo not to give me away, she nodded her head in my direction, and Bunnymund looked up, doing a double take as he saw me.

"What are ya doin' up there?"

"Not much." I said shrugging. "I was early again and got bored."

"That sounds like somethin' Frostbite would say."

I shrugged again, then grinned as an idea came into my mind.

"I don't like that look." Said Bunnymund, taking a step back.

"Who wants to prank Jack?"

Bunnymund raised an eyebrow, as if surprised that I was proposing this. "I thought yer supposed to be a professional?"

"I don't get paid, plus I don't prank Jack often; he's too good. If I get a bit of help on the other hand..." I trailed off, looking at Bunnymund expectantly.

"Ya want me ta get involved in some childish prank involving Jack."

"Yes."

Bunnymund paused, then smirked. "What have ya got in mind?"

* * *

A few minutes later Bunnymund was sitting in his normal place, and the other Guardians were in their seats, wondering where I was.

Taboo was in on it as well, having shrunk to the point where she could hide in the sofa. The prank was a fairly tame one, but still entertaining.

Jack breezed in and quickly noticed my absence. "Where's Jackie?"

Sandman shrugged and North said. "We don't know. We thought she might be with you."

Jack's forehead creased with worry. "She wouldn't miss a meeting for no reason."

"She's fine." Said Bunnymund. "Maybe some Head stuff came up, maybe she lost track of time. Not every'in is an emergency."

"I guess." Sat Jack, sitting in his normal seat. I was above and behind him and I did feel a stab of guilt. I had forgotten how protective Jack could be.

The Guardians started their meeting without me on Bunnymund's insistence, and I started the first part of the prank.

I hooked my legs around the beam and swung down from the rafters, easily catching Tooth's attention from the opposite sofa. Thankfully she wasn't talking, and her eyes widened in surprise. I put my finger to my upside down lips, grinning, and then poked Jack in the shoulder before swinging myself back up.

I almost didn't make it, underestimating Jack's reflexes. He spun around and just missed my ponytail whipping up into the rafters. He turned to Tooth.

"Did you see anything?" He asked quietly, so not to disturb North's talk about his Christmas preparations. Tooth, who remembered my gesture, shook her head.

I could just imagine the puzzled look on Jack's face and struggled not to snicker. Bunnymund glanced up and gave me a subtle warning glance as my shoulders shook from the effort of keeping it in. Bunny's role in this wasn't great, apparently he and Jack already had a prank war of sorts going on, so he didn't want to get too involved. He was just to keep Jack distracted.

I swung back down on the opposite side, and poked Jack's other shoulder. Jack already appeared nervous from my apparent no show, so jumped up and out of his seat, looking behind him. He seemed to miss me again and North stopped mid ramble.

"Jack, are you alright?"

"I thought..." Jack frowned. "Never mind." He sat back down.

I was still grinning like an idiot as I prepared for the third attack. I probably didn't have the reflexes to dodge Jack's gaze a third time, so this time I was going to go big.

I was going to nab his staff.

Not for long, just enough to annoy him a bit.

I swung back down a third time, and slowly reached for the crook of Jack's staff, which was leaning next to him. I took the curve of the staff, and still grinning, whipped it up off the sofa.

Jack went to grab it but I was back up in the rafters, grinning like a loon and holding Jack's staff in one hand.

"What the hell?!" Cried Jack as he saw who it was. "Jackie!?"

"Hi." I said, laughing. Bunnymund also chuckled as North stopped mid speech and looked up in surprise.

"What are you doing up there?"

Understanding dawned on Jack's face and he spluttered in surprise.

"You pranked me!"

"Yep!" I said, laughing harder at the look of surprise and indignation on Jack's face.

"But... but, you..." Jack still seemed unable to wrap his head around the fact that I'd pranked him, while Sandman was rolling around with silent laughter, Bunnymund and Tooth were smirking and North looked as surprised as Jack.

"You can't, you don't..."

"Can't prank? Don't have a sense of humour?" I asked, smirking as I waved his staff. "I beg to differ."

"Just... Give me back my staff!"

"Maybe." I said, grinning, standing up and walking around on the rafters, the staff over my shoulders.

"Jackie!"

"Come and get it Snowman!" I called, turned back to face him, still grinning.

Jack pulled himself up on top of the chair and Sandman laughed harder. "You're gonna get it Icicle!"

I laughed harder as Jack jumped for the rafters, but he had forgotten that he no longer had access to Wind, so fell short the first time.

"C'mon Jackie." Said Jack, "just give it back."

"Maybe."

"Jackiiiiie."

"Jaaaaaack."

"I never knew you could be so annoying."

"Wonder where I get it from?" I said with a grin. I swung upside down to meet Jack's face, with a grin.

I passed his staff back to him, having gotten bored now. "Here ya go."

Jack took it back warily, then grinned as he pointed his staff at my feet. My eyes widened and I started to swing back up as Jack's ice froze my feet to the rafters.

"Seriously Jack!" I said, not too worried, I could unfreeze it, but it was the gesture that was important as Jack cackled.

"Ya had it comin'." Chuckled Bunnymund and I rolled my eyes at him.

"You were supposed to have my back on this one!" I said and Jack turned to Bunny with his eyes wide as North laughed.

"You were helping her?"

"I was supposed ta try and keep ya from suspectin' anythin'." Bunnymund shrugged. "She forgot that you were more than a little protective of 'er."

Jack went red as Taboo chuckled and revealed herself from the sofa and I got myself down from the rafters.

"You'd swear he thinks I'm still fourteen." I said with a smirk.

"Oh don't you start." Said Jack as I sat down on my usual sofa.

"How about we get back to the meeting?" Asked Tooth, still smirking.

**This would take place a few years after the first Winter Solstice meeting, and Jackie is a bit more comfortable with the rest of the Guardians, although this is quite an impulsive move for her. Also nice to see a trait of hers that hasn't been shown off for a while come back.**

**With that ending, I was intending to go further into the actual meeting, but scrapped the idea because it didn't fit with the story itself.**


	66. Meridians

**A while ago I had someone tell me that they were a little... annoyed? Mildly irritated? I don't know (they might have been joking, but the truth tends to lie in jest), about the fact that the summary of this says that there'll be fact files, but I mainly put out one shots. Today, I will put out a fact file, on meridians!  
Most of this might not be related to what's actually theorised about meridians, it's just how I see them working in this universe.**

**Also thanks to geminiloveswriting for favouriting!**

Meridians are believed to be a system that transports Chi around your body. It's partially correct. Meridians transport magical energy around the body, not just a Descendant's, but anyone's, it's just that due to the nature of a Descendant's genetics that their meridians are naturally larger and function from birth. In normal humans they need to actively pursue magic in order to properly activate their meridians. Therefore anyone can use Atlantian magic if they can find a teacher and develop their meridians.

However, Descendants start with a different kind of magical energy in their meridians, so if they try to use a different kind of magic on top of the energy that's already there, it overloads their meridians. This would then cause the original energy to push back the foreign magic, in those that control some form of element (ice, fire, air, earth, sand, shadows, metal etc.) this would mean parts of their body turning into the element. If the foreign energy is used too often, or too much is used at once, their entire body will turn into their element. There is no known reversal.

Practice can develop meridians, either by increasing size and/or efficiency, for example Jackie's meridians have a fairly even development across her body, but are most developed and concentrated in her arms and hands. Meridians also function in a similar fashion to the lymphatic system, e.g. they don't have a pump like the heart in the circulatory system, the energy is circulated through them by physical and mental exercise.

This is why meditation is such a large part of how the Descendants of Sandman work. Due to the nature of their magical energy (sandy or grainy) they were more likely to have their meridians clogged or blocked, mediation helps to keep them clear. Presumably sand using Descendants of Pitch do the same thing.

When the opposite metal is used against a Descendant (Lead from the Earth's Core or meteor/stardust metal) it blocks the meridians, and therefore the energy flow for as long as it's inside the body. The wound itself would cause terrible pain, as the nearby energy rejects the metal and the blockage causes a build up of energy, which may eventually become unusable or will kill the Descendant. During this the energy becomes visible, and has different colours depending on the energy type and lineage.

If basic bodily functions are altered to adapt to the type of energy, a blockage of magical energy will cause the body to start to revert to normal functions, which can be catastrophic once the energy flow begins again. The resulting stress on the body could lead to death, or permanent power loss.

If the metal can suck in some form of energy (e.g. light energy in terms of Lead from the Earth's Core) it can also attract and in severe or prolonged cases suck in a Descendant's magical energy. The energy can be replenished over a period of time, but it depends on the individual's level of power. A more powerful individual would have more energy to lose, so would take longer to recover the energy lost.

In most Descendants, their meridians are most developed and numerous in the hands, which is why handcuffs lined with the opposite metal works. The magical energy is suppressed in the area where it's used most, suppressing the energy in the rest of the body as well. As this is external there are no adverse physical effects. However there is still the question of mental, as some Descendants describe it to be similar to temporally losing the use of a limb.

It is presumed that immortals have much more developed and resilient meridians, but they still can take damage.

While energy recognised by science cannot be created or destroyed, only converted, magical energy doesn't quite work in the same way. As one of the properties of magic is creating something out of nothing, magical energy can also function in the same way, which is how it replenishes itself if some is lost.

**Thought I'd add a bit from the DA comments between myself and MIMitation Balance**

**Mim**To clarify on metal effects for immortals;

Immortal Meridians are naturally much larger and their energy store folds on that of a mortal or a Descendant exponentially. External contact with the lead has no adverse effects on immortals and they can handle it with bare hands without issue, although trying to channel power past it is extremely difficult. Internally, the lead can't kill them. But since all immortals are made of a specific energy in and of themselves, it can put them in a coma, such as in Mim's case. Mastery of immortal energy partially comes with age and talent. Mim's extreme youth put her at a disadvantage but her self control and resulting recovery make her the youngest immortal to date to have achieved the feat of overcoming the lead. An Immortal like North would sustain little damage from internal lead, save for extreme pain as he is older more experienced etc. This highlights the space between immortal and Descendant greatly. Lead nearly always kills Descendants, but can't kill immortals. Needless to say, immortals don't enjoy it but will take the hit to save someone else.

**Me**Small correction I'm afraid. Lead will nearly always kill Descendants if treatment cannot be given in time, but small amounts (e.g. a short stab/cut with a knife) are survivable. The smaller the injury or area exposed to the metal, the larger the time gap there can be between the original injury and the treatment


	67. Christmas Eve with the Family

**Suppose I should start by thanking Puella Pulchra for... a lot of reviews. Wow.  
You also had a point during Don't Fear the Reaper about Jackie bringing up the name Overland. This is kind of a follow up on that, not intentionally, as this was written a while ago, but when you think about it.  
This takes place the Christmas Eve after the events of Don't Fear the Reaper.  
Anyhoo, enjoy, and Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays!**

It was close to Christmas, and Christmas was supposed to be spent with family.

So on Christmas Eve, I decided to honour the part of my family that was no longer around.

I'd bought more than enough of bouquets from the florist, to the point I had formed a box of ice to carry them all in. It must have been an odd sight if anyone was watching, a woman in her mid twenties walking to the old graveyard followed by a hollowed out block of ice, which was filled with flowers.

Thankfully, it was dark, so people were inside their homes, preparing for tomorrow. It hadn't started to snow yet, but I could see the clouds moving in preparation.

As far as I knew Jack had no idea what I was doing, but he was probably too busy with preparing the snow to come down and ask.

I reached the old graveyard on the outskirts of town and looked across it, wondering how I was going to do this. Most of them were piled high with snow or choked with weeds, the families tending to them either no longer existing or simply forgetting. All bar one, Danny's grave was still well kept, but we didn't really remember everyone else.

This could be simple. One simple hand movement and I'd get rid of the snow, then could form ice tools to get rid of the weeds. However, doing this with so little effort seemed wrong. They were still family, for family you put effort in.

So instead I formed tools out of ice, took one with my hand, and got to work.

* * *

I was done long after the Sandman and the tooth fairies had done their rounds, I think I heard the town clock chime 12 at one point, but I wasn't sure how long ago that was. I brushed the frozen sweat off my forehead and surveyed the graveyard.

Each grave had been cleared off snow and weeds, and now had flowers laid in front of them. The ones that were dirty, which was most of them, I'd decided to clean with the surrounding snow. Now most the snow around here was either brown or green, depending.

Now I was done I turned to two of the graves, clearly two of the oldest there. They were small, barely reaching my knee, and had been so unkempt that I'd spent the longest amount of time cleaning them.

So I'd spent a long time staring at the name 'Overland'.

Several of the graves here bore the name, but these two stuck out. Emma and Jackson.

Jackson being Jack of course, and Emma I was willing to bet was his sister. So, my many times Great grandmother probably.

I wasn't sure how long I stood there now, just looking at the names, trying to imagine what they'd been like back then. Jack hadn't elaborated on what he'd told me at the Pole, so all I had was what he said.

I said down in front of Emma's grave and began to speak.

"Hey, um, sorry for not doing this sooner. Once I found out about the Descendants this should have been the first place to look, but I didn't.

"I'm sorry that you lost your brother. I know that if you hadn't I wouldn't be here, but I know what it's like to lose a sibling. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. From what I've seen I bet Jack was a good brother, he gets on so well with the kids that see him. Still a jokester, I bet he was more than willing to prank the daylights out of everyone when he was alive.

"He's doing well now. I'd say I'm looking after him, but I think we're more looking out for each other. He has people to go to now, it must have been lonely for a long time, but that's over now. He can go to people if he needs to, but sometimes blood is thicker than water. We're alike in many ways, so I'm told, I guess we just understand each other.

"I kinda wish I knew you, I know that's almost impossible, but with the Order, and Jack and losing my brother, I have an appreciation of family. Especially what this family must have gone through, having powers like this isn't easy, and I'm sure when the first Descendant was born to you it can't have been easy for you either."

I moistened my lips. "I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say anymore. I've spent a lot of time in this graveyard, more than most I'm willing to bet. You probably can't hear me, but I know better than to write off the supposedly impossible, too much of the impossible has happened to me.

"We're accepted now. Jack and me, and all the Descendants, the ones we can find. We seem to be very good at hiding. I'm trying, maybe I should use this graveyard as reference, actually using family history records. Should be interesting, I like history, I'll add to the list of things I have to do."

I levelled my gaze at Emma's name as the first flakes of snow started to come down. One of them landed directly on my nose, and stayed there without melting.

"Well, Jack's here, so I'd better go. He seems pretty protective of me, was he the same with you? I never realised how annoying it was."

I chuckled, "I wouldn't have him any other way though. Jack's Jack, and I doubt he's changed much."

I stood up, shoving my hands in my pockets as I regarded the two graves. "Merry Christmas."

I gave my brother's grave a fond pat as I left, then froze as I heard a crunch of snow from behind me.

I slowly turned to see Jack standing front of his grave, facing me. His face was unreadable as he looked at me.

"Jack! Evening." _How long has he been there?_

"Evening." Jack looked around the clear graveyard. "How long have you been here?"

"Several hours I think." I said with a shrug.

"Why?"

"Something you said in the Globe Room when I was last there. About seeing the name Overland? I just thought that, since it's Christmas, it's best to remember all of your family, not just the ones that are alive."

"You're doing something for the Descendants as well?"

"Yeah, we're meeting up tomorrow between the big stuff that's already going on. We've done a Secret Santa."

A smirk crossed Jack's face. "Sounds fun."

"Should be. I think I freaked out Greg when I mentioned it. Poor boy needs to open up."

"What happened to him?"

"That's his story to tell, not mine, and most of what I know is assumed. He hasn't actually told me."

Jack nodded, falling silent for a second.

"...I...heard what you were saying, earlier."

My face went bright red and I coughed with embarrassment. "Yeah. Um, I spent way too much of my time talking to graves."

"Hmmm."

Uh oh, Jack had gone quiet, and looking at his face it wasn't because he was planning something.

"...Jack? Are you okay?" I took a cautious step towards him.

In a blur of movement Jack wasn't there anymore, and was instead hugging me.

My mind suddenly went into free fall. Jack, the guy who liked showing his actual emotions as much as a rock, was hugging me, and, was he crying?

His shoulders were shaking, he was taking big gulping breaths, and I could feel liquid freezing on my shoulder.

Oh by moon he was crying.

"Erm, Jack?"

It seemed to take him a few seconds to recover.

"S-sorry." he choked out, moving backwards out of the hug. "I just, sorry."

"What for?"

"I, I just, the whole thing. And, you found them, you put so much effort in when I didn't even try."

"Hey, you're a Guardian, you busy." I said, shrugging.

"You're a Head, you're also busy."

"Well, yeah, but I don't have to be around for all, or even most of it at this time of year." HOG tended to have a three day celebration at Easter and Christmas to take into account time zones, unless something big happened, as a Head, I had to help organise it. "Hey, come over to ours tomorrow. I know Jamie would like to see you."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

I smiled. "I'd better get back. I need sleep even if you don't. You know what's at the lake." I smiled, reminding of our little ice sculpture tradition. When Jack didn't react my smile faded and my eyes moved over to the grave. "I'll give you some space. See you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, yeah."

I patted his shoulder a little awkwardly, then began to walk home.

"Jackie?"

"Hmmm?" I stopped and turned back to Jack.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Just, ya know, being around." cue awkward Jack, passing his staff from hand to hand and looking at his feet.

"You're welcome. And thank you, for, everything."

"Being related to me has almost gotten you killed, several times."

"I know, and I wouldn't trade that for anything."

"You wouldn't?"

"Of course not! The good parts outweigh the bad parts."

"If you say so."

"I know so. Now stop being so upset. You're Jack Frost, Guardian of Fun! Smile!"

Jack gave a half hearted smirk.

"Close." I sighed good naturedly. "I have to go before Jamie sends out a search party, but if you want me to stay here for a bit..."

"Don't worry about it, you need sleep. I..." Jack looked down at the grave behind him. "I need to talk to my sister."

I nodded, understanding. "Okay. Night."

"Night Jackie."


	68. My Little Winter Sprite HOG Edition 1

**Okay, another crossover. This time this a combined universe/timeline with 'My Little Winter Sprite' by Puella Pulchra, with their permission, and I would highly recommend reading the story before we go any further so you can understand what's going on. It's a lot shorter than 'Friend or Foe' and any of the 'Mimpossible's so you should be done quickly. I can wait**

.  
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**Done? Good. How the whole thing with Isabelle will work will be explained next chapter and I will be using Puella's version of the cannon characters. Both Jackie Bennett and Sarah Jessup are her own characters, as is Isabelle. Jackie Davies and Taboo are mine. The rest are technically Dreamworks, but most of these are older versions of the characters.**

**I think that's it, so without further ado, here we go!**

Jack Frost nimbly left through the window of Sophie Bennett's place with a smile, wishing his love goodnight and then taking to the clear night sky. He spun somewhat lazily in the air before starting to fly, looping and diving with the wind while laughing all the way.

He was not aware that on the ground below, someone following him.

The figure below had to run flat out to keep up, not that it was an issue for her, even with the February snow blanketing the ground. In her hand she formed a snowball and taking careful aim she flung it at the winter spirit to get his attention.

The projectile hit the back of his head, causing him to start spinning head over heels, crying out in surprise. He quickly regained control and spun around, looking for where the projectile had come from.

Finally looking down, his face split into a grin and he dived down to greet the familiar face.

"Hey Jackie!" he said, hovering just in front of the brown haired young woman. His grin started to fade when he realised that she was looking at him through her glasses with a stern glare of disapproval, in some ways looking scarily like his own mother. It was something he was noticing as she got older.

He landed and looked at her curiously, although he could guess why she was looking at him like that. "What's with that look?" he asked lightly.

"You know exactly why." Jackie said calmly, with a small hint of irritation.

"Isn't it a bit late to be spying on me, or were you waiting outside Sophie's house like a stalker?"

Jackie shrugged. "I'm patient, and I had food with me." she indirectly answered the question.

"That's a little creepy Icicle."

Jackie ignored that. "I needed to catch you before you disappeared."

"To tell me that you disapprove?"

"She's 300 years your junior, don't you think that's a bit odd?"

"It's not as if I look it."

"You don't act like it either."

Jack opened his mouth to counter, and then realised she had a point.

"True, I don't act like an old man." he said.

"No, otherwise you wouldn't be dating someone several centuries younger than you."

"You date Jamie!"

Jackie raised her eyebrows and sent him a look that said 'really?'

"That's the worst comparison I've ever heard." Jackie said, "5 years is not 300, _and_ I waited until he was in college."

As Jack floundered Jackie had another argument.

"Also, she's going to age. I know you can age your physical age at will, but that's only a few years either way. What are you going to do when she's my age?"

Jack deflated, not having answer.

"I don't think we're thinking that far ahead."

"I should hope not."

Jackie's then expression softened. "Sorry, I just felt like you needed a reality check, and although I disapprove, I can't stop you, you know." she shrugged again. "I'd better go home and get some work done. See you around Snowman."

"See ya Icicle." Jack did look a bit out of sorts now, but Jackie decided it was best to let him think it over himself.

_"Are you sure that was a good idea?"_ Taboo asked, having remained silent for the conversation.

_They're both my friends, and this won't work in the long run, I just want to help them before they get hurt._

_"Even though this might hurt them."_

To that Jackie struggled to answer.

_Maybe it's better if that hurt came from an outside source._

_"You don't know that though."_

Jackie didn't respond and Taboo sighed.

_"They might have come to that conclusion themselves you know, they're not stupid."_

_I know, it just needed to be said._

Taboo hummed but said nothing else as they walked back.

* * *

"I'm going to kill him!" cried Jamie one afternoon in March as he slammed the door shut behind him and made his way towards the lounge in his and Jackie's apartment.

"I need to know who you intend on killing before I can help you hide the body." Jackie replied as he came in, not looking up from the report she was reading.

"Jack Frost."

Now Jackie looked up from her report in surprise as Jamie sat down on the couch opposite.

"Why, what's he done?"

"He broke up with Sophie and she's heartbroken."

Jackie winced, she was somewhat glad that Jack had taken her advice, but at the same time...

"You know that relationship wasn't going to last right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, but did he have to hurt her like that?"

"I doubt he meant to."

"Doubt he meant to? He just left in the middle of the night!" Jamie cried. "No goodbyes or anything. They even had-"

"I don't want to hear it." Jackie cut in, flushing red, even at 28 (29 the coming June) she was still fairly innocent, especially about, that.

"Still, doing that the night they break up, and he just leaves. I mean, how could he?!" it was clear that Jamie was unlikely to calm down from this, he probably didn't want to calm down. His little sister had been hurt after all.

"I doubt he meant it that way. This is Jack we're talking about, he'd have tried to not hurt her."

"Still doesn't change the fact that he did."

The two looked at each other and realised that they weren't going to see eye to eye on this one.

"Let's not fight about this." Jamie sighed.

"Agreed. I'm sorry to hear about it though."

Jamie nodded, but the two fell into silence, not having much of an idea of what else to say.

* * *

There was a bit of snow that year, not much though, and none of it Jack's. That year Jackie could brush it off, chances were Jack was nervous about bumping into Sophie. That's what she told herself anyway, ignoring the uneasy feeling in her stomach for months.

It was the next year when she started to worry.

There still was no sign of Jack, concerning enough, even more worrying was Sophie now had a young daughter, and given Jack was the only person she'd been in a relationship with, it didn't take a genius to work out who the father was.

And oh boy did she take after her father, from what she'd heard, Sophie had refused to let her near her.

_"Bloody stuck up..." _Taboo grumbled about it as the two walked through the town.

_Taboo..._

_"It's true, you're Jamie's girlfriend, why can't you see who could potentially become your niece?"_

Jackie's face went a little red at the idea. _Currently she's actually kind of my cousin._ She corrected.

_"Even worse! You two are actually related by blood!"_

_She's a half immortal, most likely with the same powers as Jack, and Sophie knows at least a bit of what I do._

_"...Oh, yeah, there's that. Protective mom much?"_

_Not like we haven't dealt with them before._ Jackie sighed. She was usually the one to approach newly found Descendants of Jack Frost, and a large chunk of the time the parents were not happy. Actually, a lot of them tried to kick her out, with mixed success depending on exactly how scared or angry they were.

_"But as you said, she's half immortal, we can't really get involved here, can we?"_

_Not really, especially if Sophie won't let me near her. Maybe if I wait for Jack to get back..._

But Jack didn't get back, not that year, and that's when Jackie decided to ask around.

She stayed up to ask both the Sandman and the Mini Fairies if they'd seen Jack. Every time she was met with a shake of the head and a worried look.

Before jumping to conclusions she checked the lake for her ice figure that she usually left Jack at Christmas. The one from last year and this year were still there. He'd never missed one, ever.

Jack was definitely missing.

She checked Antarctica, which is easier said than done given the size. No sign of him there. Next was the Arctic Circle, which took her another few weeks to cover and was still fruitless.

She could have checked the warmer parts of the planet, in case he was stuck there. However doing so would have been like trying to rescue someone who'd fallen in a well by throwing someone else down without a rope.

Out of options she watched the world wide weather like a hawk, and whenever a cold front was mentioned she was there in minutes. Still nothing.

For the next nine years.


	69. My Little Winter Sprite HOG Edition 2

**Thanks to MidnightFrostLover for following and favouriting!**

Jackie sat by the lake, practicing as usual. At this point, it was just snow sense she was doing, sitting with her eyes closed, legs crossed and hands clasped in her lap.

She was obviously older, with some wrinkles and a bit of grey hair, not that she'd admit it. However she was still fit and healthy, her power still growing even now, especially with the help of the Bergland books.

Taboo sat off to the side, dozing a bit, but lifted her head as snow started falling from the sky, flakes tossed around in the light early December breeze.

_"Jackie..."_ she said as the first flakes landed on her icy body. Even she could sense when someone had made them.

Jackie blinked and left her meditative position, standing up and catching the snowflakes in her cupped hands. She could feel it too, these were distinctly Jack's, she even put one on her tongue to double check.

She closed her eyes to concentrate as the snowflake remained un melted on her outstretched tongue and fingertips. She wanted to be absolutely sure, it had been so long.

"No..." she breathed, spitting out the snowflake and dropping the others, letting them continue their journey to the ground. Her eyes went towards the nearest tree and she started to climb it as fast as she could, leaving Taboo at the bottom, rolling her eyes.

_"I'll just stay down here then."_ she grumbled good naturedly, but Jackie paid her no mind as she climbed to the very top, often jumping branches on the way up and quickly breaking the canopy.

Above her fluffy grey clouds were depositing a heavy snowfall across the town, and if she squinted, she could see a blue figure flying across town, controlling the whole thing. Even from here she reckoned she could hear him laughing.

A grin split across her face and she cried out "Yes!" before she'd realised what she was doing.

Staying on top of the tree, she sent her own flurry of snowflakes towards Jack, hoping to attract his attention.

"Ten years." she muttered, shaking her head. "Ten years Snowman, where were you?" she was grinning as she said this, unable to hide her joy.

Jack stopped in his tracks as a familiar snow signature floated on the wind towards him. Grinning he turned in the direction it had come from, and saw someone in a pale blue hoodie waving madly at him from the trees.

He started flying towards the lake, and Jackie started climbing down the tree, taking long drops with confidence. He landed on the icy surface of the lake and before he could move he was tackled into a hug.

"Whoa Icicle, I didn't think you did hugs." Jack chuckled.

"This is a special occasion Snowman." Jackie said, her chin on his shoulder, which had a light dusting of snow. "I mean, it's been ten years."

"Tell me about it." Jack sighed, and Jackie decided to let him out, taking a step back as the two looked each other up and down. Jack barely looked any different. A little weakened perhaps, but it was clear Jackie had changed the most physically, she was almost forty by this point.

"So, where have you been?" she pushed up her glasses and folded her arms, trying to look annoyed, but she was smiling too much for it to be convincing.

"You've got something on your face." Jack looked closer, squinting at Jackie's mouth. "I do believe that's a smile Head Davies?" he withdrew, a mischievous smile on his face.

"You can talk." Jackie's grin only grew wider. "You still haven't answered my question, where were you? I was looking for you!"

Jack's grin faded and he tilted his head to one side. "You were?"

"Of course I was." Jackie said, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal. "I never really stopped."

Jack just stared at her. "Thanks."

_"Oh just kiss you two!"_ Taboo cried from her position on the lake shore, feeling too lazy to get up.

"I think I'll pass. No offence." said Jack, backing away slightly and laughing a little nervously.

"None taken." Jackie glared in Taboo's direction for a second while the tiger cracked up laughing. "And no problem. You still haven't answered the question."

"I was, in, Pitch's lair."

Taboo growled uneasily and Jackie froze in place. Of course, the one place she wouldn't have looked, mainly out of her own fear, but that wasn't an excuse, she should have looked there!

"Jack, I'm sorry, I should have-"

"What, gone down after me?" Jack shook his head. "I know how much you hate that place."

"That's no excuse, I should have checked-"

"It's huge, there's little chance you would have actually found me before dying of thirst."

Jackie cringed. "Thanks for that image." she shook it away mentally. "So, what happened, how did you escape?"

"It's a long story." Jack sighed, running his hand through his snowy hair. "Do you know, Sophie's, kid?"

Jackie raised her eyebrows. "Jackie Bennett, about so high and looks more like you than I do?"

Jack blinked. "Yeah."

"I'm not stupid, I know you're the dad, but that doesn't matter. We'll sit down, and you can tell me what happened."

Blinking away surprise Jack obliged and they sat under a tree while he regaled Jackie the whole thing. About Pitch taking him by surprise, about MiM showing him glimpses of his daughter's life, and how one Sarah Jessup (a regular in the bookshop, even if Jackie Bennett wasn't allowed to step foot in there) had found and freed him.

"A little embarrassing for you, being outdone by a child." Jack smirked at her and Jackie rolled her eyes.

"Are you trying to make me jealous Snowman?"

"Maybe."

"Ten years and you still have the maturity of a three year old."

"Hey!"

The two started laughing.

"So, now you're back, are you and Sophie going to get back together or...?" Jackie left the question, cringing slightly at the normalness of it. That really shouldn't be a question to ask a 300 year plus immortal.

Jack shifted awkwardly. "I don't know, I mean, there's Jackie..."

Jackie nodded, sort of getting it. She didn't really know what to say to it.

"So." Jack said with forced brightness. "How're you and Jamie, your fiancé?"

It took a few seconds to understand what he meant. "I forgot how much you missed." Jackie said dryly.

_"Those too haven't been together for about, nine years, ish."_ Taboo interjected and Jack looked confused.

"Why, and who's this new girl then? If it is a girl."

"He was upset after you left Sophie, saying you left her 'distraught'." Jackie put the word in air quotes. "When I started looking for you, he hadn't really gotten over it, I was barely around, so we broke it off, yes, his fiancé is female, he wasn't hiding anything from us. We still talk, and I'm happy for him."

She said that last part a bit too quickly and Taboo rolled her eyes.

_"A lot of ice cream was consumed that night."_ she said, laughing at Jackie's glare. _"It's true!"_

Jack laughed. "How much?"

Still glaring at Taboo Jackie said. "Two tubs." a growl from Taboo made her amend that. "Three."

Jack laughed harder. "I didn't think you'd be like that after a break up."

Jackie was tempted to cuff him, but settled for chuckling as well. "Alright, you got me there."

They chuckled for a bit, then fell into companionable silence for a bit.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you something." Jack said.

"What is it?"

"You said you know Jackie, my, Jackie." he said with a somewhat melancholy expression on his face.

"Only by sight. Sophie doesn't let me near her." she occasionally saw her on the school route or looking curiously though the window of Bookmark, the book shop Jackie worked in, and was going to become the owner of. The two however had never said anything to each other.

Jack frowned. "Why?"

"She knows I do dangerous things, and I have powers, she's just protecting her kid." Jackie waved it off, ignoring the small stab of irritation at Sophie in her gut.

"Oh, well, I was still thinking. I'm not around all the time, so, would you...?"

"Would I what?" Jackie wasn't completely sure where this was going.

"Help her, teach her maybe?"

Jackie blinked. "Erm, why don't you do it while you're here? You're her dad."

"She doesn't trust me."

Jackie frowned. "You're her dad." she repeated more slowly.

Jack sighed. "Should have known you wouldn't get it."

"No, I don't. Family is family, you're part of it. Why wouldn't she trust you?"

Taboo was shaking her head and making slashing movements with her paw, trying to signal to Jackie to shut up. Too late.

"I was never there. She doesn't know me. She thought I walked out on them." Jack brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them along with his staff and resting his chin on them.

"She doesn't know me either. And if you two practice together then it's a good time to bond." Jackie still wasn't sure what the issue was. "She's more likely to trust you than me. You may not have been around, but she knows now that it wasn't your fault, and you're still her dad. I'm a stranger who knows about her powers, that's going to get her guard up almost immediately."

"And how do you know that?" Jack's question was leading to his point, but Jackie didn't immediately see it.

"Because I would have done the same thing at her age."

"And that's why she'll trust you." Jack said. "You know what it's like. You understand."

Jackie raised her eyebrows, but had to admit that Jack had a point. In fact the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She had been in a similar point when she was that age, there were obvious, immortal based, differences, but basically...

"Sophie's never going to let me near her." never mind the fact that she has experience with difficult parents, it's just, this was Sophie. For moon's sake she used to babysit her!

Jack grinned. "Leave Sophie to me. You think of what to say to Jackie."

Jackie let out a long breath. "Fine. I'll think about it. We should leave it at least a week though. Make sure Jackie has enough time to settle back in." that iced classroom had been a mess and a half. No injuries thankfully and some Descendants of North were working on the students and faculty, there was apparently already a rumour going around about the furnace, so they were running with that. The Nightmare had disappeared before Jackie or anyone else could deal with it though, which was both a relief and an irritation.

"Got it." Jack stood up. "I'd better get back to this snowstorm. See you later!"

"See you."

Jack was off and Jackie looked at Taboo. "What did we just get ourselves into?"

_"Potentially, teaching a new student. Might be a good idea to re-read files on half immortals though."_

"Good idea. Never thought it was going to be an all nighter tonight."

**A little bit of an explanation I think. What I probably should have said last time that unlike 'Friend or Foe' this isn't going to follow the events of the story, this actually takes place between the last chapter and the epilogue of 'My Little Winter Sprite'. So HOG won't be showing up, but as you saw they are mentioned in the background, but HOG events are not the main focus of this mini series.**


	70. My Little Winter Sprite HOG Edition 3

**Thanks to Merlia W for favouriting!**

"She's dangerous." Sophie hissed at Jack.

It was the middle of the day a few days later, and Jackie Bennett had gone back to school. What Sophie hadn't been expecting was Jack turning up, even less was that he was talking about her least favourite ice mover.

"She's not. She does dangerous stuff-"

"Exactly! And I know she doesn't do it alone, those women at the bookshop are usually gone at the same time. I'm not having them drag my Jackie into any of, whatever they do!"

"That's not what I'm asking." Jack was calm in comparison to Sophie. "Jackie Davies is here all year round, when I can't be-"

"Except she isn't." Sophie interrupted. "She disappears, infrequently, and can be gone for weeks at a time!"

"That's still more than me, most of the time." Jack countered. "She just wants to help-"

"Help what? Turn our daughter into a fighting machine?" Sophie shook her head. "What is she? Jackie Davies? She's not like our Jackie, but I know she has the same powers. What is she?"

Jack couldn't look at Sophie. "That's something you should ask her, but she does want to help." Jack wasn't sure how much of that was true, but he wasn't sure what else to say to convince Sophie. "And I think it's a good idea. I've known Jackie a long time, she wouldn't hurt our Jackie. She wouldn't."

"And yet, she comes back from her little trips looking like she's been through a war or something similar. I don't want to expose Jackie to that."

"She can help." Jack insisted. "She knows more about this than I think either of us, and she wouldn't hurt Jackie, ever." he reiterated.

Sophie was silent for a while.

"I'll talk to her." she said finally. "Just talk." she added as Jack grinned. "This isn't a guarantee of anything. Tell her to come during the day, when Jackie's at school."

"Will do." Jack was still grinning.

* * *

Jackie let out a long breath as she stood in front of the Bennett household. She was still standing on the sidewalk, not having gone up the path yet. She could see Sophie in the window, pretending that she wasn't looking for her.

_On a scale of one to ten, how much shouting do you think there's going to be?_

_"I think it's going to break the scale."_

_Great._

Jackie let out another long breath and walked up the path, crunching through the snow. She made it onto the doorstep and rang the door bell.

She was kept waiting for a bit until the door finally opened.

"Hi Sophie." Jackie tried to be cheerful.

"Jacqueline."

And cheerful would have to go down to civil if this kept up.

"May I come in?"

Sophie stood back silently and Jackie entered, taking care to wipe her feet on the mat. Sophie closed the door behind her and led her through the kitchen, past the stairs and into the lounge, where they both sat down.

The lounge had an arrangement of squashy sofas facing each other with a coffee table in the middle and the television up against one wall. Sophie sat on the far end, facing the door they just came in, while Jackie sat opposite, her back to the door.

Jackie fought the urge to shiver. The only way it could get any colder if Jackie actually lowered the temperature.

"So, Jack talked to you about this?" Jackie tried to break the ice.

"He did."

"And?"

"And, I want you to tell me what you are, who you work for and why you think teaching my daughter is a good idea."

_So, only what I should tell you and things I should never have to tell anyone, great._

"Okay, I'll try to answer those in order." Jackie started off explaining Descendants, and HOG, with Sophie's face slowly turning red.

"And you intend for my Jackie to join this, HOG?" she asked, unable to mask the venom in her voice.

"What? No." Jackie really shouldn't be surprised that Sophie had jumped to the conclusion, she had started slipping into what she normally told Descendant parents. "She can if she wants, but that's not the primary reason I'm doing this."

"And what is your primary reason?"

Jackie really had to think, she couldn't just say 'because Jack asked me to', so what was the reason?

"Because she needs, and will need help."

"And you think I can't help her?" Sophie's voice was very quiet, but still sharp with steel.

"That's not what I'm saying. You're her mom, she will need you, not just as a mother but as an anchor, to keep her grounded, but she needs someone to teach her about her powers."

Sophie opened her mouth, but Jackie kept going. "She's powerful, more powerful than me. She probably has more power in her pinkie finger now than I ever did when I was her age. And it will only grow from here. She's going to hit puberty in a couple of years, and her power is only going to increase at an even greater rate from there. She'll need someone to help her control it."

"And you think that'll be you?"

_Why do I get the feeling this a job interview?_

"Er, maybe?" if this was a job interview, Jackie had no chance of being hired after that response. "I teach other Descendants, and there's more."

Sophie didn't say anything, so Jackie continued. "Jackie isn't the first half immortal to have ever existed, and, while she's unlikely to attract attention now, as she gets older, more immortals are going to try and use her, she needs to know how to use her powers properly. And, maybe learn how to fight. To defend herself." Jackie added as Sophie suddenly looked volcanic.

"And you're the expert, are you?"

"It's my job to know these things."

"And you think you understand what's it's like. From what you've told me you've probably been in the company of Descendants all your life. How could you have any idea what it's like for Jackie?"

"I know exactly what it's like. Because I'm an exception."

"Prove it."

"Alright." Jackie leaned back in her seat, fingers lacing together and a cold glint appearing for the first time in her eyes. Her suddenly wintery expression almost completely at odds with her casual clothing of jeans and a hoodie. "I'll tell you what it's like."

"You feel utterly alone."

Sophie blinked in surprise, but Jackie was just starting.

"You are surrounded and completely alone, because you can't show anyone. You make friends, but they'll never know you, not really, because you can't tell them. You have no idea what they will do with that information, what the consequences will be, and with a government focused on a war against terror you can only guess what might happen. You have to hide something as natural to you as breathing, and nothing can compare to that kind of loneliness."

"It's also terrifying, because you're not completely sure what will set off your power, anything could happen that could reveal your secret. Your Jackie is lucky, she has you and her friend Sarah. She can be herself to you, but not to anyone else. And no one can truly understand that, unless they also face or have faced that."

Jackie had gotten herself worked up now, and so was almost glaring at Sophie, wintery replaced with the heat of anger. "And you could have spared her that if you'd told me! If you'd trusted me! I was your friend! And in the absence of Jack Frost I am the fore most authority on anything to do with cyrokinesis! But no, you didn't trust me with anything, the only reason I even worked out who and what Jackie is was because I know Jack!"

Jackie suddenly realised that she'd gone too far and retracted her expression back to calm, but it was too late.

"You didn't trust me either!" Sophie shot back. "You didn't tell me what you were!"

"I didn't tell anyone. Anyone in Burgess only knows what I can do by accident and it's not as if I knew how to make them forget!"

"You told Jamie!"

"Jamie just happened to be there when it was explained to me."

"Because you got him hurt!"

"That wasn't me!" Jackie cried.

"I hear you killed your own brother with your powers."

Jackie stopped. "That was years ago. I was younger than your Jackie."

By now they'd both realised they'd gone too far, but they couldn't take back what they'd said.

There was silence for a few minutes as they took turns, staring then not looking at each other.

"You think Jackie could do that as well? Hurt someone?" Sophie asked quietly, but the steel was gone.

"She's your daughter, you tell me."

"...She'd never want to."

"Of course not." Jackie's expression was more sympathetic."But people can do things they regret when pushed into a corner. Especially if they're not in as full control of their abilities as they think."

Jackie's words rang true and Sophie had little issue doubting her. There was no doubt that Jackie was speaking from experience.

"You honestly think she could be in danger, at some point in the future?"

"It's possible. Half immortals always attract a lot of attention. More powerful than a Descendant and just as fragile."

Jackie had to laugh for a second, although there was little humour. "There's also the novelty factor. Descendants are a dime a dozen in comparison."

When Sophie didn't say anything Jackie continued. "And, know this. Jackie is my blood relative. We share Jack as a relation, that makes her, and you, family. I protect my family."

"You killed your brother." Sophie countered immediately and Jackie struggled not to sigh. That would forever remain a scar on her record and her mind.

"That was 32 years ago."

Sophie sighed. "I want to trust you, because I believe you, but I want my daughter to be safe."

"She will be safe with me."

"Can you promise that?"

Jackie paused, and then decided to tell the truth.

"No."

"Thought not." Sophie smirked, then started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"You were always so good at lying."

"I try not to lie as much these days."

"Still a liar. I remember when you babysat me. The lies you'd tell me about why were so cold, physically. The lies you told my mom about why you couldn't make it one night, or why you were limping. I know you slipped after a while, or rather Jamie slipped and you were too off guard to deny it."

Jackie tutted to herself. "Even then my skill was slipping. A skilled liar can make a plausible excuse at the drop of a hat."

Sophie shrugged, "Those lies would probably hold up now. But, thank you for being honest."

Sophie tapped her knee with her index finger. "I'll talk to Jackie. "Can you come over on Saturday for lunch?"

Jackie did have some paperwork to do that needed to be in that day, but Sophie didn't need to know that, she was just glad that relations had started to thaw. "Sure."

**To save a massive explanation next chapter, I'll explain something here. There is a spoiler to 'My Little Sprite' in this, so you have been warned.**

**HOG was aware of the fact that Jackie Bennett froze her classroom. Billy was in Burgess on a day off and noticed it first, so was the one who told everyone else. Jackie Davies had to get Descendants of North in to deal with memories, but Sarah and Jonathon Jessup (both Puella Pulchra's characters) were already on the case. So the Descendants ending up working off of them.**


	71. My Little Winter Sprite HOG Edition 4

**Thank you to Hidden-Feeling for following and favouriting, and thank you to Puella Puchra for the reviews and for allowing me to do to this mini story.**

A few days later Jackie was back on the Bennett's door stop, looking like she hadn't slept well, and she hadn't. She'd stayed up late to try and get the reports finished on time and had to deal with the usual nightmares, but that wasn't an issue. She could run on a few hours sleep at this point.

What she wasn't expecting was for Jack to land next to her. He looked a lot better than when she last saw him and was dressed exactly the same. Actually... He was wearing similar pants that weren't quite so battered, and that was about it for changes.

"What are you doing here?" they asked each other at the same time.

"I got invited for lunch." once again, at the same time.

_"Anyone would think you two are doing this on purpose."_ Taboo groaned.

The two ice movers chuckled at that, then Jack looked a little remorseful.

He shook his head, "If Jackie says anything today, it'll be a miracle."

"Quiet kid?"

"Yeah. Quiet, likes reading." Jack paused, seemingly not able to have anything else to say.

"Sounds like we'll hit it off then."

"Huh?"

Jackie managed to smile instead of smirk. "You just described me when I was ten."

_"Are we going to stand on this doorstep all afternoon?"_ Taboo grumbled from Jackie's hood.

"I'd better ring. You're the dad, I'm just the guest." Jackie half smiled at Jack before ringing the bell.

There was a quicker response than last time, and Sophie actually smiled, at both of them, not just at Jack.

"Hi you two, come in, soup's almost ready so if you want to sit at the table."

Jackie followed the other two in, with Jack outright sniffing the air, and Taboo mimicking. The ice tiger was actually poking her muzzle out of Jackie's hood, and Jackie carefully pushed her back into hiding with her finger. No need to freak out the kid just yet.

"Smells good." Jack commented.

"It's just tomato."

"Can't go wrong with a good tomato." Jackie added. She was quite partial to gazpacho, for obvious reasons, but highly doubted that what was on the menu given the steam coming off the pot. She tugged at her hoodie collar, already feeling uncomfortably hot.

The front door led right into the kitchen, the in the centre of which was a square table, big enough for four, or six if you squashed someone on either end, maybe eight if everyone was very friendly. The fridge was against the back wall, to the right of the fridge was a door, with a stove along the other wall. On that stove was a large pot of soup and not far on Jackie's left was the kitchen sink.

It was a cosy kitchen and very homely, reminding Jackie of her parents kitchen, only, a little smaller.

"Take a seat." Said Sophie, before leaning out the door by the fridge and calling up the stairs. "Jackie, lunch is almost ready, and your dad and a guest is here!"

There was a thundering sound from upstairs, which sounded like more than one pair of feet. Jackie moved around to the door, hopefully so she could see who was coming downstairs without being seen herself.

A young girl, no older than ten, with ivory white hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes was running down the stairs, although slightly in front was another girl the same age whose hair colour was the exact opposite. Her face was also a lot lighter than the white haired girl's, you got the impression she laughed a lot more. Both girls where in jeans and t shirts, although the white haired girl was barefoot, while the black haired one was in boots still.

"Can Sarah stay as well?" the white haired girl asked Sophie. Had to be Jackie, the older Jackie had recognised those features immediately. She looked so much like her father.

"I figured you'd ask. I've got an extra place set up."

Jackie looked over and did indeed see five places set up at the table.

_"All mothers are psychic."_ Taboo chuckled, and the younger Jackie shook her head suddenly, like she had ringing in her ears.

"Are you alright Jackie?" her friend asked, Sarah. Jackie guessed, she had heard about her from some reports a few years ago.

"I..." Jackie looked right at the older Jackie, who looked equally concerned. "I'm fine."

Jackie was tempted to snort. She'd heard that excuse many times before, usually from her own mouth.

Sophie looked through from the kitchen to see how older Jackie was standing. "What are you doing?"

"Standing here."

"You can sit down you know." Sophie chuckled, shaking her head. Jackie Davies had always been a weird one.

Jackie went back into the kitchen, and was followed by her younger namesake and Sarah.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked, and Jackie turned around to answer.

"Jackie Davies. I'm an old friend of your parents." she nodded to Jackie to indicate that it was hers and not Sarah's parents that she meant.

"Both of my parents?" younger Jackie asked quietly.

"Yes." Jackie nodded. "I knew your dad when your mom was still a toddler."

"That's weird to think about Jackie." Jack groaned, to which older Jackie laughed.

"Lighten up old man."

"Old man!" he looked playfully affronted. "Says the biologically oldest person in the room."

"Said the chronologically oldest person in this room." Jackie shot back, grinning. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Jackie giving her an odd look. Obviously she had worked out that there was more to this guest than met the eye.

"If you're old friends, why haven't we seen you before?" asked Sarah.

_Smart girl._

"Sophie and I had a falling out for a while. We recently decided to patch things up." she explained everything and nothing at the same time.

"Sit down, soup's coming through." Sophie had picked up the pot of soup from the stove and was carrying it over.

The two youngest shot towards their seats while Jack and Jackie made their way more slowly round, letting everyone else sit down in their usual places. Sophie sat with back to the fridge, while the younger Jackie sat opposite. With so many people Jack sat next to Sophie and Sarah next to Jackie, leaving the older Jackie to sit at the last place that was set, which Sophie had thoughtfully put on the end furthest from the stove.

Even then she felt too hot to be comfortable, so just took off her hoodie altogether, revealing a pair of fairly muscled arms, not bodybuilder like, more lithe that that. You probably still wouldn't to challenge her to an arm wrestle though.

Sophie started ladling out the soup into the bowls while Sarah and young Jackie talked amongst themselves.

Having Sarah here did put a spanner in the works, but Jackie could work around it. Sarah was quite interesting as well, so maybe she knew more than she let on.

Older Jackie watched the younger, seeing how she used her power to cool the soup. It did seem to take some concentration, with both hands a few centimetres from the sides of the bowl, but she managed to cool the whole bowl.

It was impressive from someone so young, especially since Jackie's method involved frosting over each spoonful individually.

Jackie realised that she was staring and looked down at her soup, so not to freak out the kid.

"Why were you staring?"

Jackie looked up as the younger Jackie asked the question. _Astute and a little suspicious._ She noted. In response she shrugged and smiled. "Nice technique."

Younger Jackie and Sarah froze.

"You, know?" Jackie asked quietly.

"Yes. I know Jack, and I have seen you around in Burgess. Once I'd worked out that your dad was Jack your appearance changed to match your powers. Such an unconscious illusion is classic of a half immortal."

The entire table went silent.

"...I just put my foot in it, didn't?" Jackie tried to act nonchalantly as she took another spoonful of soup. She very deliberately frosted over the soup, making it clear what she was doing before swallowing.

Young Jackie was more curious now.

"Who are you?"

" A relative." Jackie suddenly stopped when she realised how bad that sounded. "Not a half sister I'd like to point out." she recovered.

"Then what?"

_I really hadn't hoped to get to this point so soon._

"Somewhat simplified, your cousin. I'm entirely sure of the exact relation-"

"You're waffling." Jack said, and Jackie shot him a side eye look.

"I'm Descended from Jack's old family and Jack taught me, many years ago." that was the simplest explanation Jackie could give, and looking at the younger's face she didn't quite buy it, even if it wasn't a lie.

_Change the subject, change the subject._

"Anyway, you two are in school right? How's it going?"

"Fine." was younger Jackie's response, clamming up. Meanwhile Sarah regarded older Jackie suspiciously, but said nothing.

Jack and Sophie tried to get the conversation started up again, but older Jackie stayed out of it, feeling like it was best to keep quiet for now. She'd probably just freak her out even more than she already had.

She did try some small talk, asking about what books the younger two liked. The conversation then turned to Frozen, and then a serenade of 'Let it Go' from Sarah began.

_Grin and grin bear. Grin and bear it._ There was nothing wrong with Sarah's singing, it's just Jackie hated that song.

Once the soup was done Sophie took the younger Jackie to one side, quickly talking to her before sending her to the living room, quickly sending the other Jackie after her. She quickly grabbed and pulled on her hoodie before going through the small hallway to the living room.

"Hi." Jackie stood in the doorway, then walked over to one of the couches, sitting opposite to younger Jackie. Oddly enough it was the exact same setup as when Jackie was here to talk to Sophie. "I wasn't too overwhelming there, was I?"

Jackie shook her head, but the older one wasn't quite so convinced.

"Okay, so, your mom's told you about me, and you probably guessed that there's more to it, and I'm going to explain."

Jackie gave a rundown of Descendants and HOG, with the younger Jackie listening intently.

"So, a Descendant, that's what you are." she asked once older Jackie had stopped talking.

"Yes."

Younger Jackie shifted slightly in her seat. "Momma said you wanted to help with my powers. Why?"

"There's several reasons. I know what it's like to go through life being self taught, which is doable, but you are far more powerful than I am. More power is harder to control and there are proper techniques for that, which is what I'd teach you."

"You said there were several reasons." she prompted.

"You're a half immortal, Pitch won't be the last immortal that causes trouble, and he might not be the worst. I want you to be ready for that."

"Why?"

Such a simple question, and it would have the exact same question Jackie would have asked at the age. It carried so much weight. Why would you do that for someone you don't know? Why would you care? Why are you so interested in my well being?

"Initially, because Jack asked me. I said I'd think about it, and I did, and I came to the conclusion that we are in fact blood relatives. I protect my family. As a half immortal you will walk a different path to me, I will not always be around to protect you and you probably wouldn't want me to be, I just want my family to be safe."

Jackie then shrugged. "I doubt you share that, but it's just how I see it."

Younger Jackie nodded slowly, taking it all in. Whether she would accept it was another question, it would probably take time.

"What about this HOG? Could I join that?"

"You could, the only people who would try stop you would probably be your parents, but it's not a decision to make lightly. And I'm afraid to say that you would stand out there as well."

"I could show my powers." she reasoned, it was always one of HOG's big draws.

"Yes, you could, but it was also mean that you would have to follow our rules, which you might not like."

Younger Jackie nodded again, then glanced towards the door.

"Sarah's listening."

Jackie stifled a curse. "Interesting girl your friend." she said instead. "I hear she can talk to animals."

"Do you think she's a Descendant?"

"Unlikely. Animal languages tends to be a taught skill, and she doesn't fit the physical description for some of them." older Jackie quickly explained. The funny thing was that Sarah's brother had been thought to be a Descendant of North, and as the nearest Head she had to organise observation to check. Basically she got someone to spy on him. He hadn't come up as one, but both siblings abilities had been noted and filed, just in case.

_"We might want to wrap this up soon. That paperwork needs to be in in an hour and I can already hear my ears ringing from Jason." _Taboo prompted.

"What is that?" younger Jackie shook her head again. "Was someone talking?"

Mentally, Jackie and Taboo looked at each other.

"What did it say?" older Jackie asked, curious.

"Something about paperwork? It didn't sound right."

Jackie nodded. "I know who that is. Would you like to meet her?"

Jackie looked unsure, but nodded, curious.

Older Jackie reached up to her hood and Taboo hopped onto her palm. She brought her hand down and out for the half immortal to look at.

"This, is Taboo."

Taboo leapt out of her hand and grew to full size, shaking herself off. The ice tiger had a completely solid ice body, with stripes of slightly darker ice. The details had been added and changed over the years, properly retractable claws, fangs that fit properly in her mouth, even a tongue, not that she needed it. If you were good with ice, like both Jackies, you could see the wear and tear where she had been repaired over the years.

_"Finally! I was getting really bored in there." _Taboo blinked her glowing pale blue eyes in the second or so it took her to adjust to the change in size.

"It talks!" young Jackie had pulled her feet onto the couch, but was looking at Taboo curiously. "How is it still whole? Mine don't last that long."

_"Less of the 'it' if you don't mind."_

"Sorry."

"I'm not completely sure." admitted older Jackie. "I made her in a stressful situation and I'd already gotten good at making tigers, I can only assume I poured too much magic into her, and she become solid and sentient. It was a bizarre end to that story."

_"Especially when I nearly knocked Jack Frost out of the sky!"_

"Especially when you did that." Jackie sighed, but was amused by the memory.

Jackie was leaning forward in her seat, curious, but wary.

"You can touch her if you want." the older ice mover prompted.

Taboo obliged by going over and slumping down in front of the couch, having to push the coffee table away a bit and being careful not to scratch the wooden floor. Jackie reached down and traced a finger across her back. Taboo made a soft rumbling noise and Jackie jerked her hand back.

"Stop teasing her." Jackie admonished Taboo.

Taboo twitched her tail, but remained silent as Jackie tried again, although she did attempt a purr.

"If you really want her to purr, the best way to do it is to scratch her behind the ears." offered older Jackie, and the younger obliged.

Taboo rumbled and purred, leaning her head into the scratch.

_"Ooooh, that's good."_

"And just like that she's turned from predator to kitty cat."

_"Screw you."_

"It's true and you can't deny it."

"I wanna go!" the two Jackie's heard from the door.

"Come on in then." older Jackie sighed. "Since you heard everything. There's another ear."

_"No no no, wait!"_ Sarah came charging in and after moving the coffee table out of the way, starting scratching Taboo's other ear energetically, not seeming too bothered by the cold.

_"I hate you."_ Taboo complained while she purred like an engine.

"Sure you do." Jackie smirked.

She let it continue for a few minutes, before standing up. "Okay, I have to go, but I guess I could leave Taboo in your care for a few hours?"

_"No, no. Jackie!"_ Taboo tried to get up, but the scratching was too much for her. She fell back to the floor, her tail swishing back and forth lazily as the two continued their attack.

Jackie got up, but before she left the room, she turned to the two kids.

"Oh, and everything you heard in this room, even me being here. You tell no one, got it?"

The two of them nodded, before going back to the helpless Taboo, who was alternating between irritable rumbling and purring. Although the difference wasn't that obvious if you didn't know Taboo, or tigers for that matter.

Grinning Jackie walked out of the lounge and found Sophie and Jack talking in the kitchen. Sophie was trying to wash up, but Jack was making life difficult by trying to freeze the water. Although Sophie seemed pretty adept at keeping him at bay.

"I need to go." Jackie announced. "But I will be back for Taboo in a bit. They seem to be having fun in there."

"Did Jackie agree?" Sophie asked.

"She never actually gave me an answer, I'll ask again when I get back."

"You brought Taboo to win her over didn't you?" Jack smirked, pausing in his attack.

"Jack Frost! You make me sound Machiavellian!" Jackie cried. "That wasn't my intention, for all I knew Taboo could have terrified her."

Jack gave her an unconvinced look.

"...It was an on the fly plan, and it seems to have worked." Jackie smirked. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"When did you get so cocky?" Jack asked.

"Whenever a plan works." she said with an almost identical smirk to Jack's usual, standing right by the door. "See you later!"

**Final note, I didn't include everything that happened with the Jessup sibling files in this because it interrupted the flow and was too clunky. What ended up happening was that the information on Jonathon was stored for future reference, just in case later down the generations actual Descendants start popping up. Also, while Descendant families are watched throughout the generations to get Descendants in as soon as possible, they will miss some people, it just happens. Family members disappear off the map for various reasons, so if someone does show signs of being a Descendant they will still watch them to check. **

**Also, Sarah's information was sent off to the Descendants of Ombric, as her abilities (languages, human and animal) match more closely to them. The Descendants of Ombric then proceeded to do nothing with this information. Why is kind of spoilery, so read 'My Little Winter Sprite' Book 2!**

**That's all I've got, Happy New Year and I'll see you next time!**


	72. My Little Winter Sprite HOG Billy Add on

**This came up in one of the many reviews that Puella Pulchra posted, and I thought I'd share my response. Descendants as a whole are aware that Santoff Claussen exists, they just don't really bother themselves about it.**

**Also this came about as I thought a bit more about what happened when Billy noticed Jackie B's little breakdown. She's not mentioned by name, but this still takes place in the combined MLWS and HOG universe.**

Billy was practically grinning as he walked through Burgess, his bag and wallet ready for new video game purchases, and he was looking forward to spending the rest of the day trying them out.

Okay, yes he would probably blow a lot of his paycheck, but he was getting paid next week, he'd survive. It's not like he needed dye to hide the grey in his dark blonde hair, because he _wasn't_ going grey! It was just his hair bleaching in the sun!

He passed by the trio of schools and stopped, his ears pricking and his nose quivering. Something wasn't quite right.

If he concentrated he could hear shouting from the elementary school, not unheard of in a school. He couldn't make out the words, but then it stopped, and he could smell ice, or rather his sensitive nose could sense the change in temperature with the fresh smell that blocked almost everything else.

It was something he was very good at doing since Jackie Davies joined the Burgess Branch 22 years ago.

_Some poor kid's just shown off their power to the entire class._ Billy deduced, then stopped. _Wait, George is back home, and Natalie's on a school trip. Then, who...?_

At the prospect of a new Descendant and an accidental power display, Billy picked up the pace to get into the centre of Burgess.

He needed to get a message to Jackie were he couldn't be overheard, and she was almost guaranteed to be in the bookshop at this moment.

It was just irritating that he had to run at a normal human speed. Normal humans are so slow! Lots of boring, slow people getting to work.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Billy took to the back streets and sped up to inhuman speeds. Not to a blur, he couldn't go that fast, but he probably broke the official world record for the fastest mile. For the 1000th time that year most likely.

Finally, the shop came into view. A quaint looking place, the outside painted to look like the whole building was made of wood, with the name along the top, 'Bookmark' actually along a painted green bookmark in gold.

In the large windows were displays of books, but they also had a few tabletop games, e-book readers like Kindles, even a few Blu Rays of movies adapted from books.

He pushed open the door as calmly as possible, but was still a bit too quick for normal human beings.

Jackie, sitting at a table further back in the shop to sell a few of her own pictures, looked up from a new one she was sketching.

"Billy? Where's the fire?" she asked the Descendant eleven years her senior. "Moving a bit quick for a man in his fifties." she added with a smirk, as there weren't any customers yet.

"I only turned 50 this year!" Billy groaned, not wanting to be reminded that he was getting old. "And not so much a fire..." he glanced to the counter, where one of the other members of staff was standing. Not a Descendant, just some random person, Billy didn't really care.

Jackie saw that this needed to be taken elsewhere.

"Gemma, hold the fort for a few minutes okay?" she called to the girl at the front, but barely waited for the affirmative before the two Descendants went into the back room.

There was a hidden trap door in here that led to their meeting place in times of an emergency, but it wasn't needed now.

"What's happened?"

"Some kid at the elementary school must have freaked and used their powers in the middle of class."

"Do you know what kind of powers?" Jackie could guess who it was, but couldn't jump to conclusions just yet.

"Ice, I think. I could almost smell it. Didn't think there was another Descendant of Jack Frost around 'ere." he looked at her, excited and half expecting a smart arse reply.

Jackie had to play dumb, and shrugged her shoulders. "Neither did I."

Billy looked a bit disappointed at the reaction. "C'mon, new Descendant of Frost right under yer nose! Ya've got to be excited about that!" Billy was good at noticing what Jackie was actually feeling, having known her for nearly two and a half decades, but she wasn't showing any signs.

Internally Jackie was thinking, yep, she knew who was behind that. Billy didn't know, in fact only Jackie knew because she didn't think that having a bunch of people know would be great for when she could finally talk to the kid. It would happen, eventually, the kid had a right to know about the world she was in.

"Okay. I'll contact the other Heads to get someone in to deal with memories, I'll get Sally in to cover the shop and I'll go look at the damage." Jackie planned aloud. "You, get back to what you were doing. I've got this."

"Yes sir." Billy said with a smirk, knowing that it still irritated her and checking that she was feeling alright.

"Shut up."

"Sir yes sir."

Jackie went to smack him on the shoulder, which he blocked.

"Ya want to try to go against an Osbourne?" he asked, but was suddenly on the floor as Jackie knocked his feet out from underneath him.

"You taught me old man." Jackie smirked as Billy tried to glare from his position on the ground, but he was smiling too much.

"Don't think you've got the drop on me." he added as he swiftly hit the back of her knee with his hand in a knife edge and then hooked her ankle with his arm.

"Excellent breakfall." He commented as Jackie also said hello to the floor.

Jackie just glared at him. "Give over. I've got work to do. You get back to video game shopping."

"Yes sir."

He got a snowball to the face for his trouble.

**George is Billy's nephew and Natalie is his daughter. Yeah, at this point he has a child. This is mentioned more in Black Sheep, but I don't think MimitationBalance has gotten that far in updating. Both kids are Descendants as Billy comes from a family line where all of them are Descendants.**


	73. Finding your Wings

**This I guess is part 2 to 'Flying', or at least a continuation of it.**

I spent a while experimenting with the wings, seeing and feeling how they moved. I also had to wait for summer to be over and spent many hours pouring over videos of birds flying in slow motion. After this preparation, I felt that I was ready to do this properly.

I was in the woods as always with the wings hovering over my hand. I took a deep breath and pulled my hands outwards, expanding the wings until they were about 7 metres in length, still keeping to the same size ratio. It was based off the wing length of the feather winged Descendants of Toothiana, so it should take my weight.

I know it was a bit more complicated than just adding wings, but since how I'd do it wouldn't use muscles, maybe it would work? It was an experiment I guess. If this didn't work I would check the Bergland books again, or talk with Greg, see if knew anything.

Mentally I attached them to my back, trying to centre them between my shoulder blades. Taboo gave some helpful advice.

_"A little to the left, down a bit. Now right."_

"If you're going to give directions, be a bit more specific. Use centimetres or even inches." I said to her.

_"Fine fine. Go right 0.4cm."_

"That's not helpful."

_"You wanted centimetres, you got centimetres."_

I looked over my shoulder at her, mentally moving the wing out of the way. I raised my eyebrows, and she gave me a human like grin.

I shook my head and got back to getting them into place.

Once in place I extended more of my awareness to the wings, moving them. First I folded them against my back and extended them repeatedly. After doing that about ten times I left them extended and moved each primary feather individually.

I could see my reflection in the lake and I did look odd. The wings didn't look right, they didn't look natural. The muscle structure wasn't there, instead of them looking like something that had grown with me, it looked like I'd sticky taped wings to my back. Which is essentially what I had done.

Once I'd done moving the feathers around I started walking around the lake in laps, getting used to the weight and drag, both extended and folded. After walking I turned to jogging, then loping, then finally to flat out sprinting.

Finally I came to a stop, looking up at the trees. Time for the ultimate test.

I folded them tight against my back and started climbing to the highest branch that could take my weight. I was going to start low, then slowly get higher as I got more confidant with them. That was the plan, it might change.

I moved cautiously to the end of the branch, and without giving myself time to think, jumped. As I did I tried to remember to flap the wings at the same time.

I went up a bit as I did, and I whooped. It worked! The wings worked!

I then lost control as the wings started to flap out of sync and crashed to the ground. Well, into a snow drift, which wasn't as painful.

I could hear Taboo laughing as I fell face first into a snowdrift, not breaking my glasses by some miracle.

_Glad you're amused._ I pushed myself out of the drift and used my power to get the snow off.

"That was only attempt number one." I defended, and Taboo folded her front paws and rested her head on them, waiting.

The second attempt was better. I got a few more flaps in before getting caught on a branch and falling again.

Third time I managed to avoid branches and just kept going up. Then there was a stray gust of wind which send me spinning, and falling.

Fourth time I didn't hit any branches nor was there any wind. Now I just needed to move forward.

I started to tilt into a horizontal position while still flapping to try and maintain height, remembering the propelling movement I needed to use. The concentration required for all this snapped with an owl hoot and I met the ground once again.

And again.

And again.

_"Jackie, you should probably give it a rest before you break something."_ said Taboo from the sidelines, looking worried.

"I'm fine!" I insisted, I knew I had bruises in a lot of places, mainly on my nose and around my eyes as my glasses got shoved into my face.

_"You have two black eyes and it's 1AM! Give it a rest."_ Taboo growled, and I looked at my watch, seeing that she was right.

"Fine, but we're doing this again tomorrow." I said, detaching the wings and shrinking them back down. The next step with these would be create fully functional wings on command, but I wasn't there yet.

* * *

I spent the next week practicing, getting better each time. Three days in I could fly in a straight line, by the end of the week I could sort of turn without flying in a complete circle. I still had a chance of crashing though. My flying was also shaky, I probably looked like I was drunk when I was airborne.

I was also black and blue from it, but that was fine, I hadn't broken anything.

Jamie was also wondering what I was staying up late to do, so I let him watch. I think he was concerned about where I was getting the double black eyes from.

I hovered in place above the lake, it was a little windy, but I'd gotten more used to it, coasting on the current a bit.

Slowly, slowly I started to fly laps around the lake, and after a little bit I started to speed up. Faster and faster until I went too fast, lost control and crashed face first into a tree.

I heard Jamie go "oooooh" as I slid down the tree trunk. I did thankfully have some protection on my face, with compacted snow around my nose and teeth especially.

"Are you okay?" he asked as I landed on the ground.

"Fine." I replied, a little muffled from the snow in my mouth.

"That looked like it hurt." I could hear coming over to help me up.

"New bruises probably." I took his hand, stood up and dusted myself off. "I'm going to try again, not that fast though." I added.

"You're really determined to do this." Jamie noted, hands now in his red and blue jacket.

"Yes. I am."

_"You don't say." _Taboo snarked. _"Most would have given up after the tenth crash."_

"Crash landing is still a landing."

* * *

A month later and I was a lot better, well, I wasn't crashing into trees as much, and the ground a lot less, but it still happened.

By this point winter was definitely here, and that could only mean one thing. Jack was in town.

I wanted to show him, but at the same time I was nervous, what if he laughed? What if he thought what I was doing was too dangerous? Not that it would stop me, but knowing he disapproved would lessen my enthusiasm.

"You're still here?" he asked as he landed on the lake. It was about 11 at night, later than I would be for normal practice.

"Yes, and I want to show you something." I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

"Oh yeah?" he leaned on his staff as I got the wings out and ready.

"You're not going to do what I think you're going to do, right?" he asked, a mix of concerned and excited.

"Depends, were you expecting this?" I asked while climbing the tree.

Jack raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything as I climbed.

I got to my usual branch, jumped off, and started some lazy flying around the lake.

A strong gust of wind nearly sent me out of the control, but it was just Jack jumping up to my head, grinning like a loon.

"That's awesome!" he cried, circling around me. "How fast can you go?"

"Haven't tested." I replied, wobbling a lot in the wind.

"Race you then!" Jack shot off, leaving me spinning in mid air.

"That's cheating!" I yelled after him, managing to recover, with a serious dip in height, my feet skimmed the ground in fact.

I went back up and shot after him, or tried to. I flapped my wings a lot, but I couldn't catch up to the blue and white blur in front of me. It wasn't as if he was flying efficiently either, which was even more frustrating.

"Okay, there's no way I'm winning this race! Slow down Snowman!" I yelled at him, but I just got his distant whoops back as he flipped, dived and soared.

I sighed as I tried to catch up, but I already had one hell of a headache from concentrating on the wings. That made it harder to concentrate, which only worsened the headache.

Before I could make a noise out of irritation, a breeze came up from behind me. However instead of making me spin out of control, it pushed me forward.

Confused, I continued to flap, and the wind continued to push me in Jack's direction, consistently. Grinning to myself I started flapping like mad again, I could catch up! I was catching up!

I was loving it now. This was so different from skating, this was effortless in a way, requiring no muscle power beyond my brain. The only reason I would stop on my own was if I got bored or if I used too much magical energy. I didn't see the former happening any time soon though.

"How's it going Snowman?" I called as I drew level with the swooping Guardian.

"Hey, didn't actually expect you to catch up Icicle." he said, grinning, then his face dropped slightly. "Wind, you helped her? That's not fair!"

The wind suddenly dropped and Jack tumbled for about a second before the wind caught him.

"Alright, I take it back, you're the best." he amended, laughing as I hovered, also laughing.

Jack flew back up to my height. "So, how long have you been working on this?"

"About a month or so." I shrugged, then dropped slightly as the motion interrupted the wing movement. "You can probably tell."

"Still can't believe you managed it!" Jack flew around me, checking out the wings. "Is this what you were talking to Tooth about in the Warren?"

"Yes. I thought I'd get some advice from someone who'd really know how this worked." Tooth was centuries older than any Descendant after all, she'd have more experience.

"You've got to show her at the next meeting."

"I don't know..." I trailed off. I wasn't as comfortable showing off something like this to any of the other Guardians. Jack was my friend, the others, it would feel, odd, like I was bragging to get some kind of favour or something.

"She'd love it!" Jack was grinning. "C'mon, if you don't mention it next time I will!"

"Alright, alright." I tried to appease him. "If we've both got time, I'll show her."

Jack was still grinning as we decided to fly back, at a more relaxed pace this time.

"You've come a long way." he said suddenly as we flew.

I looked at him. "You've chosen an odd time to be melancholy."

He shrugged, flipping onto his back. "Yeah, but, remember when you could barely move a ball of ice with your mind?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "And that was what, 15, 16 years ago now?"

"You're getting old."

"Says you!" I laughed. "Three centuries at least!"

"And looking good."

"If you say so." I responded with a smirk.

"Your opinion doesn't count. You can't tell if anyone is good looking."

I opened my mouth to object, and then remembered that he was right. "Touché Snowman. Touché."

* * *

The Winter Solstice meeting went smoothly, as there wasn't much for me to tell. The Descendants of Mother Nature had gone quiet for now, so I just listened to the Guardian's report on their various work, or watched in the Sandman's case.

Very quickly it was over, and Taboo nudged me before Jack could, so I took a deep breath, and stood up.

"Hey Tooth." I managed to call her by her nickname on the first attempt. "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure!" she responded, her smile brilliantly bright before toning it down to viewable levels. "What can I do for you?"

"I-I'd like to show, you, something." I said haltingly. I glanced out the window and quickly ruled out showing her there. The wind was howling outside and I wasn't going to be able to cope with that. "We should probably go somewhere with more space."

"Okay. How about the Globe Room?" Toothiana was looking very curious about what I had to show, which did not help my nerves.

"Okay." I said, and Taboo and I followed her out, out of the corner of my eye I could see Jack following us, but he was being covert so I didn't say anything.

Very quickly we were in the Globe Room, and not trusting my voice, I got the wings out, enlarged them, and stuck them to my back. I had been practicing standing take offs, with mixed success. I just hoped it would work this time.

I jumped and flapped at the same time and just managed to get airborne. I had never flown indoors before, so this was interesting, at least I didn't have to worry about the wind in here.

I didn't look at Toothiana as I flew lazily around the Globe, well, as lazily as I could in my tense state. My flight wobbled more than normal as a result, but I did manage to finish off with a backflip without crashing into anything, and then landed.

I finally looked at Toothiana, and she had an enormous smile on her face, her Mini Fairies whizzing around excitedly as she also darted around a bit.

I felt my face flush red as I removed and shrunk the wings.

"I-it's a work in progress. I'm not exactly good yet." Why was I so embarrassed? I can only guess it was because I don't usually show off, especially to people more powerful than me and that I don't know that well. Maybe. The more nervous I was the more logical and less emotionally understanding I was being.

"Oh my gosh that is so good! How long have you been practicing? I've never seen any Descendant do that! Well I've haven't met many Descendants but still!" Toothiana talked at a rapid fire pace that was difficult to keep up with.

I coughed, feeling my face flush in embarrassment. "Well, I'm still working it on it..."

"How was it? Did it feel good?" she asked, still excited.

"Yeah. When I don't have to think so much about what the wings are doing. Some of the more complicated stuff, heck just turning requires a lot more concentration than just flapping them. Well obviously, I need to move the primary's in a certain way, and I remember reading somewhere that it's easier to bank by just flapping one wing, or something like that." The more I talked the easier it was, going into specifics and technical talk, this was where I was comfortable.

"I'm sure Jack will have fun with a new flying buddy."

"He's leaving me in the dust at the minute, but eventually, maybe I can catch up." I managed a small smile.

_"I'll leave the flying to you thanks."_ Taboo grumbled. _"I felt ill just watching you do that backflip."_

"Show me how much you've improved next time okay?" Toothiana asked, smiling again, but more softly. A more calm happy than her bubbly over enthusiasm.

I nodded. "Okay. Yeah, okay."

"See you next time!" she started to move into a hug, then remembered how I normally reacted. She then sort of hung there with her arms half open, almost asking permission, which was a weird thought.

I braced myself. "Go on."

I got wrapped in a thankfully not rib crushing hug, that appeared to be more North's thing, but it was still a little painful. I also stiffened up, not sure whether to hug her back. Taboo nudged me in the back and I obliged, stiffly returning the hug.

Toothiana let go and I felt like I could breathe normally again. I appreciated the gesture, but that had been painful and awkward. Toothiana flew off with a smile and her entourage, still on the ground I let out a long breath.

"Don't you go replacing me now."

I jumped about a foot in the air and turned to see Jack hovering behind me, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Also, you never hug, where's my hug?" he said, looking mock sad, with exaggerated puppy eyes.

I sighed. "You are such a child sometimes."

Jack stuck out his bottom lip, as if to prove my point.

I sighed again. "Oh for..." I opened my arms out for a hug. "Fine."

He practically flew into me, nearly knocking me off my feet, but somehow I remained standing.

It was a nicer hug than Toothiana's, probably because I wasn't feeling like I was burning.

After about thirty seconds I said. "Okay, we both have something that we need to do."

"Spoilsport."

"You _like_ your job." I reminded him.

"Yeah, but I want to make the most of this. I wasn't kidding when I said you never hug."

"Okay, but I think I've used up my hug quota for the year."

Jack snorted with laughter and withdrew, still laughing. I chuckled a bit as well while pulling the Smoke out of my pocket, Taboo coming over and jumping into my hood in preparation.

"See you later Snowman."

"See you Icicle."

I threw down the Smoke and the Workshop disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

**To answer a question pre-emptively, the reason Jackie didn't form a platform to land on when she fell was because she wasn't high enough to flip to a standing position, and landing face first onto ice hurts more than snow.**

**Also, the thing with the Descendants of Mother Nature isn't intended to be a hint to anything. I was thinking of something from Darren Shan's 'Demonata' series, specifically book 3, 'Slawter'. There's a quote that roughly says that even though the story is over, life goes on, things still happen. 'The End' isn't the end, it's just not written about. That's what I'm showing here. Descendant stuff doesn't stop because I'm not following big stories with Jackie, it's just not being documented.**


	74. Promises for the Future

It was the dark void, where many nightmares take place. A part of my mind remembered this, but that part wasn't in control, as always.

"Why?"

The whispers of multiple voices crossed my ears, from everywhere. I spun in a circle, trying to pinpoint just one.

Faces appeared, hanging in the sort of full length mirrors you'd see in a fun house. Each one I recognised, but only a few I knew the names of.

"Why?" they whispered again, mouths moving in rough unison to form the word, making them seem distorted and dragging the word out. Similar to a musical round, but infinitely worse.

I could hear my breathing loud in my ears as I tried to back away, but the mirrors surrounded me. I couldn't get away.

"Why did you let us die?" they whispered in the same manner as before.

"I'm sorry." I tried to say, to rationalise, to apologise. "I never meant to..."

"Why?" their faces distorted oddly, elongating, squashing together or breaking apart and coming back together again.

"I never..." I felt myself fall to my knees, looking hopelessly at the faces. "I didn't..."

"Will it stop?"

A solitary voice, not the one I'd really feared hearing, but it was still bad.

I turned to face the mirror with Penelope's face, her eyes rolled back into her head and chin splattered with blood. Her originally sallow skin was grey and worst of all, there was a gaping hole in her forehead, slightly frosted around the edges.

"It has. I've got it under control." I insisted, voice cracking.

"Have you?"

The mirrors were sucked away violently, smashing into shards of blood stained ice before being sucked into a tornado of snow. All the while accompanied by frenzied screams and constant 'why?'.

"Why? Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy?"

"STOP! STOP IT!"

My hands were clapped over my ears, trying to block out the cries, but instead the sound of a baby crying pierced through the noise.

Everything suddenly went silent, except for the baby.

"What about him?"

* * *

I was jolted awake, breathing heavily from the nightmare. It took a few seconds to root myself back into reality, not helped by the crying baby that had followed me from the nightmare.

Crying baby...

Uh oh.

Trying to shove the nightmare out of my head, I grabbed my glasses and went down the hall into the baby's room, the walls painted a tasteful shade of yellow.

In a white and baby blue cot and under a mobile of the solar system lay a baby. A little baby boy in a powder blue onesie and dark peach fuzz on his head.

Oh, and he was wailing like the world was going to end.

"Hey hey. It's okay." I murmured as I reached down to pick him up.

I held him against my chest and sat down against the wall, rocking him gently.

"Shhh, shhh." I went, still rocking him.

"It's okay, it's okay." I continued softly. "Bad dream? I get them too. Bogeyman doesn't like me very much."

He slowly stopped crying, but was still whimpering a bit. I formed a snowflake on the end of my finger and dangled it in front of his face.

His little blue eyes lit up and his chubby little hands tried to grab it. I smiled and moved my finger around slowly, letting him try and catch it. His whimpers changed to gurgling noises and a few giggles, which managed to calm me down as well. I could even feel a soft smile forming on my face.

Jamie was out tonight, travelling to a convention that I didn't feel like going to. I was fine with it, he had always wanted to go, so I practically shoved him out the door so he wouldn't feel so bad.

Taboo would normally be here, but she'd been going crazy being inside all day, so she was out in the woods.

Leaving me, and little Jack.

"Feeling better?" I asked as he stopped trying to grab the snowflake.

In response he yawned and snuggled into me. He didn't mind my lower temperature, nor did he mind Jamie's normal one, we just couldn't hand him to each other. The change in temperature usually got him to start bawling.

"Alright, time to go back to bed." I stood up as carefully as I could, trying not to jostle the precious bundle in my arms.

I carefully put him back and pulled the blanket over him, but I didn't leave, not yet. The nightmare was still in my head and now that he was quiet, the worst parts were coming back.

"I know you're too young to understand this, but a lot of people think I'm dangerous, and I can't really deny that. That's what my nightmares are about, and you..." I sighed. "You're so small, fragile even, and even now I'm scared that I'll..." I couldn't finish, I couldn't even look at the baby, my little boy. It was weird to think about sometimes.

"I'd say that I'll protect you, and that I'll never hurt you, but I told Danny that, and, well... It's my fault you don't have an uncle."

I felt my legs give out and I fell to my knees, trying my hardest not to cry. I didn't really need to, there was no one else here, I didn't have to hide how much the nightmare had freaked me out. How every time I held my son I was terrified that I was going to hurt him like I'd hurt so many other people. It was my own pride and not wanting to disturb him.

"I don't want to hurt you. I love you." I whispered. I couldn't stay in here. If I kept this up, I'd only wake him up again.

I pushed myself up and walked like a zombie downstairs to the kitchen. My parents had given Jamie and I the house, since as they'd gotten older they couldn't cope with such a big house.

I poured a glass of milk, set it on the table and I plopped into a chair, the nightmare starting to run like a silent movie behind my eyes. My eyes were burning, my throat sore and lumps of ice were sticking to my face.

I let it out as quietly as I could, and after a while I was done, flicking off the chunks of ice. I did feel a bit better, especially since I couldn't exactly go for a run tonight, and surprisingly, I felt some resolve.

"It won't happen." I decided. "I will not hurt you. Ever. It will never happen to anyone else I love."

I didn't promise. I don't promise something unless I know that without a shadow of a doubt I was able to keep it. I was going to try though.

That was the best promise I could make.

**This story was spawned after watching a comic dub of the Undertale fan made comic 'Night Terrors' and before you check it out, there are spoilers (I guess) for Undertale in it, and it does do it's title justice, so, don't say I didn't warn you.  
It was also originally going to be in the MLSW/HOG combined universe, but I decided that I'd dabbled too much in that universe for now, so I changed it.**

**This also marks the first one shot story where Jackie's new family makes an appearance. I've had very few ideas involving these guys, but if you guys are interested in seeing more, I will oblige, don't expect an immediate response.**

**And to pinpoint the time, Jackie's about early thirties here, and I should say that I know very little about babies, I don't even particularly like babies. Chances are this will be the only time a baby will make an appearance.**


	75. Penelope Part 1

**I've been planning these a while, I had it pointed out to me that I never really went into Penelope, either as a character or really her relationship with Jackie, so I'm uploading this mini series to try and make up for that. Naturally these are going to be from Penelope's POV and will go a little more into her backstory and how the Descendants of Pitch work.**

Penelope followed Samuel from the police station, still shaken from what had happened. She hadn't expected her plan fail quite so spectacularly. She rubbed her arm, a nervous habit and a tic that someone as socially inept as Jackie wouldn't have picked up on, while looking at the older and taller Descendant's back.

She remembered some things about Descendants, remembered shouts through the old front door as her mother refused to let them in. One night when one of them managed to get into her bedroom, a scared little girl being defended by a large wolfhound.

She had only been half listening to the stranger hidden in the shadows, but the information had been retained. That's why she'd sought out HOG and the Descendants of Lupine, in that order, and why she'd been so confused when they'd turned her away so violently.

"So, what do you know?" Samuel had come to a stop on the edge of the town.

"Erm, that we are Descended from Pitch Black, the Boogeyman, we exist in case he requires our services, but otherwise we live apart from weak mortals." Penelope said somewhat robotically, information remembered from all those years ago.

"Correct." Samuel bobbed his blonde head. "Do you know how to shadow travel?"

"Yeah, but, where are we going?"

"I can't say yet." said Samuel. "Follow me."

He disappeared into the shadows and Penelope quickly followed, locking onto his presence and following it.

The two appeared in a cave, who knew where. Their arrival had clearly been planned as there was a ring of Descendants around the edge of the cave. No Descendant looked quite the same, there were in fact few physical similarities. Some were short, others tall, thin, bulky, black hair, blonde hair, brown hair, red hair. It was all here, however black hair was clearly dominant.

In the centre was a pillar of rock, a stalagmite, that stood at around five foot high. Even in the gloom, Penelope could see dried brown and copper red streams flowing down it.

She swallowed, not knowing, or really wanting to know what that was for. This whole situation was new, and her instincts, honed from years of living alone, were telling her to leave, there was nothing stopping her, just go through the shadows and travel anywhere. Another continent would be good.

"A Descendant of Pitch does not feel fear." Samuel barked, making Penelope jump. "Fear is an emotion for those inferior to us. We can feed off fear, we have no need for it ourselves."

Penelope didn't respond, but her unease grew.

Samuel approached the stalagmite, and from how everyone else didn't move, it was clear that he was the one in charge here.

"We are not liked, not by HOG at least, we know that much. It can be easy for us to stray, so we make a pact, in this room. We bind ourselves to each other by blood, with our own blood combining with the blood of those who have come before us."

Samuel turned to Penelope, his blue eyes seeming to shine brightly in the gloom. "This appears daunting to many, but everyone else in this room has done this. Will you join us?"

_Even now, I have a choice._ Penelope could walk away, leave humanity behind as she had done before, it would be so much easier, but the idea also sent waves of pain to hit her chest. The brief interaction and even briefer comradery with Jackie had left her wide open. Suddenly, she couldn't bring herself to be alone anymore.

Jackie's cold and calculated rejection rang through her ears, and seeing her and that boy, smiling together behind her eyelids. Her resolve hardened, and she stepped forward.

"I will." she stated, squaring her shoulders. They were willing to accept her, isn't this what she'd always wanted?

"Very well." Samuel approached and signalled if it was okay for him to take her hand. She obliged and he gripped it at the wrist, moving her forward until her hand hovered over stalagmite.

"You only need to make a scratch and allow some blood to flow. You would then use sand or shadows to cover the wound, whatever your preference."

Penelope tended to use a mix, as shadows were too insubstantial to hold blood in, but sand was itchy and irritable on the injury, but together they stopped the itchy sand.

Penelope lowered her hand onto the stalagmite without any prompting from Samuel, and scratched the fleshy part of her palm. It barely hurt, especially compared to some injuries she'd had in the past, so had no issue watching the red blood drip onto the rock.

Samuel nodded after a minute or so, deeming it to be enough blood and Penelope withdrew her hand, wrapping black sand and shadows around it.

It was done, there was no turning back now.

And Jackie Davies was going to regret turning her down.

* * *

Penelope tried not to flinch at the stares as she made her way to her quarters. The whole base was like a hive had been carved out of the rock, with a massive central chamber and bridges spanning the expanse above.

It was just the settling in period, Samuel had told her. Most were at least a little suspicious of an older Descendant coming in, most of them came in about five or so.

You could say many things about the Descendants of Pitch, but you couldn't deny that they were tight knit.

Almost, too tight knit, at least for Penelope's taste.

Groups of Descendants tended to sleep in the same room, and that was weird enough, even stranger that she was sleeping in a bed. She hadn't slept in a bed in years, and the only reason she was doing it now was because she really didn't fancy sleeping on hard, pointy rock.

The people she was sharing with were, okay. They seemed to be drilling in the fear thing, but they were all teenagers, hormones and things were going mad, so not feeling fear was a bit tricky for them.

That's what she assumed, she didn't know much about that part of human anatomy.

"Ah, Catherine, just the person I was hoping to see."

Penelope had to force herself not to freeze as she heard Samuel approach, especially as he insisted on using her birth name from the visits all those years ago. He had an awful habit of changing moods at the drop of a hat, almost like flicking a switch. He could go from happy to murderous in no time at all, and it happened more often than anyone was willing to admit.

"You know someone in HOG, right?" Samuel came around in front of her, grinning, his smile standing out on his peaky face. Most Descendants of Pitch don't see the sunlight for years at a time.

"Yes." Penelope said cautiously. "She won't trust me anymore." _If she ever did._

Samuel waved it off. "That doesn't matter. That just means you know where they are, right?"

"Kind of..."

"Excellent." Samuel wrapped an arm over Penelope's shoulders. "Follow me."

Penelope tried to ignore the fear that had decided to poke her in the gut.

* * *

Penelope made it to the communal bathrooms before throwing up. That had been horrible. None of what just happened had been deserved, on either side.

They'd started it sure, but Jackie had ended it.

Yes, they'd kidnapped them, but was murder an appropriate response?

No, that wasn't fair. They'd pushed someone that Penelope knew to have unstable powers into a corner. Heck, she'd done that before herself! It hadn't ended great the first time, and now it wasn't ending great again.

Paura was on the warpath. She was a twin, Jackie killed her brother and siblings tended to be very close down here, so she had every reason to be upset. She had been practically frothing at the mouth once they'd gotten back.

And Samuel, oh darkness, Samuel.

He'd never seen him so furious. She'd tried to tell him that attacking the Burgess Branch was a bad idea, but he already seemed to have some baggage with them. She _told_ him that Jackie wasn't in full control.

He hadn't listened, or perhaps that's what he'd wanted, but Penelope had made it worse by trying to help Jackie. Why? She'd done _nothing_ for her!

_Guilt. I felt guilty. I didn't stop this, she was hurting._ Those were the reasons, despite the little bit of satisfaction she'd felt when she saw Jackie's face, but it hadn't lasted long.

She'd already been chewed out for helping her, and was going to facing Samuel in sparring tomorrow. The Descendants of Pitch didn't punish wrongdoers physically, officially. Sparring with weapons was a way of getting around that.

The bodies came into her mind again and she heaved again, the remains of the contents of her stomach expelling itself.

That had been horrible. Seeing dead animals hadn't prepared her for that, and seeing Pitch, even worse.

This had started to turn very sour.

* * *

Orders from above apparently, that was the reason behind this.

How high above Penelope had no idea, as far as she was aware each continent base has the same level of authority, but either way, they were preparing a squad for Scotland with the European Descendants of Pitch.

Penelope didn't like this, this was wrong. HOG as a whole so far has not retaliated, but the people Jackie killed was enough apparently. No diplomacy, just going in for that attack.

Chances were this was a bigger plan, one involving Pitch. Penelope was willing to guess that was where the orders had come from. Pitch didn't care about Descendant diplomacy, and no Descendant was going to disobey, they all knew the cost of that.

So she squared her shoulders and aimed her hands to towards the shadows, sand building up around the fingers in long streams.

**So, to clarify slightly, as I imagine it's been a while since most of you read the original Human Order of Guardians, the first part takes place a few hours after Jackie and Penelope have their first fight, early in HOG 1. Second part is just before the part when Jackie gets captured by Blondie/Samuel and meets more Descendants of Pitch, about a few days or a week before. Third part is less than an hour after that. Fourth part is just before the sand appears in the HOG mass meeting in Scotland.**

**Also, if anyone has any better ideas for a title, that would be great!**


	76. Penelope Part 2

**It was pointed out to me by Puella Pulchra that there was an issue with my spacing. Turns out the spaces I left between scenes disappeared when I posted the chapter. I've gone back through all the documents on the Doc Manager and sorted it, and will continue to keep an eye on this.**

"Stupid! Stupid!" Penelope berated herself, pacing back and forth on a wooded hill in Scotland, just out of the shadows.

Behind her lay Jackie, out cold from the large amount of Nightmare sand that she had been exposed to and from holding up that wall. She didn't seem to be dreaming, possibly too tired to do so. Her brown hair was messy and flecked with black, while her glasses were askew on her face.

_Why did you do that?_ She asked herself. _She's not going to grateful, she probably hates you after what you did!_

It had been impressive though. Only after spending time with the Descendants of Pitch had Penelope been able to appreciate exactly how powerful Jackie was. If she decided to go all out, Penelope would not stand a chance.

Rubbing her arm, she glanced back over at Jackie. The idea of getting revenge had crossed her mind, even killing the other Descendant. It might not even be a bad idea, revenge, and getting back with to the Descendants of Pitch, telling them that the opposite had happened, that Jackie had forced her to shadow travel out and they two had fought, ending up with Penelope killing Jackie. She'd killed animals before, would a human be any different?

She'd be lying if she said that it wasn't appealing, but, did she even _want_ to go back?

Did she even want to kill anyone? The look on Jackie's face when she'd killed those Descendants had said a lot.

_I could just leave her, she'd never know it was me. The Descendants of Pitch would never come looking for me, at least, not for a while. What would happen to her after that would have nothing to do with me._

She shook her head, feeling her gut roll at the idea of Samuel catching up with either of them.

_We'd both die._

As she thought Jackie moved in her sleep, her eyelids flickering. It seemed that she was starting to wake up.

Penelope moved closer, and then took a step back, not sure how close she wanted to be. Firing range probably wasn't a good idea, but at the same time, firing range was probably very far.

Better get this over with.

"Jackie, wake up, Jackie!"

* * *

Penelope sat with her back to the campfire, watching the moor below, it was her turn on watch. It was just the two of them, so they were taking six hour shifts during the night. It was refreshing in a way, getting back to this, and not having to sleep with one eye open.

She'd forgotten how much she'd missed sleeping under the stars, with a small campfire crackling nearby and the fresh smell of the wind dancing across her nose. Supposedly Descendants of Pitch don't like the sunlight and prefer to avoid it, Penelope had never had that issue, she'd always preferred camping at night.

Jackie made a mumbling noise behind her and rolled over awkwardly, not able to move her arms properly. Penelope assumed it was just the muscle and magic strain that was causing the weakness and the pain that was going to come next.

"Can't sleep?" Penelope asked without looking. There was a shuffling sound that confirmed it. So far this whole thing had been a lot, quieter, than Penelope had expected. Jackie had been talkative enough back in the isolated cave in Ohio, but after the plan had been discussed, neither of them had felt like talking much.

Penelope didn't know what to say really. Jackie had apologised, which was confusing as what she seemed to be apologising for wasn't her fault.

_People who actually interact with normal humans are strange._ Penelope reflected, still watching the moor, and keeping a watch on the shadows behind them.

* * *

Penelope was thinking hard as she sat in the sleigh after Jack Frost and Jackie had left, going over the events of the last half an hour in her head.

Jackie had protected her, especially since the Guardians had looked ready to kill. Coming from the Descendants of Pitch, who did not dare disobey an order from their ancestor, this was bizarre. Jackie should have stepped back and let them do what they wanted, but she didn't. She stopped them, spoke in her defence.

_Why Jackie? I did awful things to you, I see that now. Why would you protect me?_ It was odd, no one had ever really tried to protect her before, no human anyway.

The Sandman tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump. She turned to look at him as he put a question mark above his head. She had learnt to read, many years ago, but wasn't so rusty that she didn't know what it meant.

"Thinking."

The Sandman tilted his head to one side and made the symbol again, but Penelope didn't really know people well enough to recognise that he asking what she was thinking about.

"What? What are you saying?"

The Sandman let out a silent sigh and shook his head, deciding not to worry about it.

"'E's askin' ya what's on yer mind." said the Easter Bunny, which again made Penelope jump, and then frown in confusion.

"Why?"

"He's just bein' nice, I think." the Easter Bunny shrugged.

_Just being nice. There's probably something wrong with the fact I find that strange._ Penelope suddenly blinked, Jackie's way of speech might have rubbing off on her. She rubbed her arm nervously as the next drop off came up. The prospect of working with the exact opposite of Pitch was daunting.

* * *

Penelope had hoped to be subtle about the rescue. The Descendants of North were being watched by the Oceania base, none of them knew her thankfully. However, the Descendants of North didn't react quite so well.

She tried to use her powers as little as possible as she ran around, untying the Descendants while the Sandman used his powers to fend off the other Descendants. Since Dream sand and Nightmare sand were equally dangerous to each other the Descendants had to keep their wits about them to avoid contamination.

Then one of the younger Descendant's of North called out to Penelope.

"Behind you!"

Penelope spun on her heel and fired a knife of sand into the attacking Descendant's right shoulder without even thinking.

The attacking Descendant, really a kid with black, spiky hair like a hedgehog, reeled back, crying out in pain. Penelope followed up with a blast of sand to send him flying, then got back to untying. Except they shuffled back from her as far as they could.

She could feel, no, taste, their fear, and it sickened her, despite the boost of energy she got from it. She did not want to have to deal with that.

"Swap!" she called up to the Sandman, and without waiting for a response she sent out black sand to attack. It was difficult for her to do large, sweeping attacks, preferring to keep to small, individual, potentially very damaging attacks, like small knives. This was a bit out of her element, but she just kept moving, trying to keep herself to a small target.

Her world became a mess of sand, shadows, and dodging, although the Sandman was good enough at multitasking to free Descendants and stop her from getting badly hurt. The Descendants of North also did some magic, but what it was exactly was lost on Penelope.

In a blur the Easter Bunny showed up, they were in a Tunnel, and then she was in the Warren.

She kept out of the way, not being too far away from the set of Tunnels that people were coming out of. She did a quick injury check, and found that other bruising and a couple of cuts, she was fine. Once this was over, she was going to be on her way again, these people wouldn't want her.

The Sandman patted her carefully on the shoulder, then moved away slightly and lowered himself into a sitting position. He then looked behind him and patted the ground beside him.

Penelope didn't quite understand the gesture, but got the gist. Frowning slightly, she walked over slowly and sat down next to him. He beamed broadly, and her face also slowly split into a shy smile.

She could see Jackie, but she looked busy, so left her to it.

It was odd sitting next to the Sandman, he didn't try to talk, which she was fine with, it was just, nice, to be sitting next to someone who she didn't have to worry about. He didn't say anything, but now she just felt calm around him. How he was acting now was almost completely at odds with the fighter she had seen only minutes before.

After a while he was called away by the other Guardians, which Penelope was sad about, but it's not as if she could stop him.

A few minutes later she heard the whinny of a horse. She stiffened and turned to look, but saw nothing. Forcing herself to relax she turned her head back around, focusing on what was happening in front of her.

About thirty seconds later she was grabbed by sand that was not her own, wrapping around her arms and torso.

She couldn't stop the panicked cry as she dragged out of the Warren and into the Tunnel by Descendants of Pitch she most definitely recognised.

They didn't bother saying anything to her, they just dragged her into the shadows.

They were spat out in one of the entrance caves to the American base and the sand dropped her. Quickly a couple of other Descendants grabbed her arms and pulled her to feet, holding tight as she struggled.

About a hundred Descendants of Pitch had shown up to watch, and Samuel walked out into the middle, glaring at Penelope. With a wave of his hand, a gag of sand wrapped around Penelope's mouth.

"Catherine Mire. You stand accused of sabotage and desertion." he said in a monotone voice. He continued to talk, he voice become more and more furious.

"You allowed a HOG Descendant to escape, then instead of returning and admitting this, you ran away and aided the enemy. You broke the pact you made in blood."

Samuel stepped back and reached into his pocket, pulling out an arrowhead made of a grey metal. Around it he wrapped black sand, forming a full arrow, then he formed a bow and slotted the arrow in.

"You should know better Penelope, I knew you had a soft spot for the Descendants of Frost." his voice was a bit softer now, almost regretful as he called her by her chosen name. "But not enough to betray us, and you know what happens to traitors."

He pulled back in preparation to fire, and Penelope felt her stomach lurch. This was it, she was going to die. She didn't want to die! She was only sixteen, she was too young to die!

As if some divine force had been listening, a shard of ice shot out of the darkness and hit the arrow, shattering the metal and disintegrating the sand.

Samuel looked to be in shock as a familiar, worryingly angry voice spoke from the shadows.

"A life for a life, isn't that how it works?"

* * *

Penelope could finally breathe once the massive cavern had been emptied of people.

Those not fighting, including Jackie Penelope was a little upset to find, had gone home, those that were left had gone to claim beds on the barracks. She should go get one as well, but she needed time to work out what on earth just happened.

Jackie had saved her, again. The Sandman and Jack Frost had shown up to help, she wasn't dead, and now she was going to helping the Human Order of Guardians of all people!

This, this was too much...

She sat down on one of the rocks around one of the openings, a lot brighter than the Descendants of Pitch base she noted, and let out a long breath. She repeated this for a few minutes.

It would take a while to get used to this, people wouldn't like her to begin with, but that could change. She had Jackie and some of the Heads on her side, it could only go up from here.


	77. Penelope Part 3

The first few days Penelope avoided everyone she could.

The other Descendants also seemed keen to give her a wide berth, she often ate alone, and commandeered a spot in the barracks near the back. It appeared to be an unoccupied area, well, there were no beds, not that she was worried. She may still be sleeping on rock, but it was cushioned with thick moss, so no issue there. She found it better than a bed.

Her days were spent telling the Heads everything she knew about the Descendants of Pitch, which wasn't really all that much. She could tell them some of the caves they used in America, and that in dire circumstances they would use Pitch's lair, but that would be if there was nowhere else to go.

At any other point? Well, she'd be in one of the Training Halls, practicing with throwing knives or her sand. No one was willing to spar with her with sand, which was understandable, they were afraid of contamination.

One morning she was meditating, as all sand users had to (she found out the hard way) and she sensed someone approach her.

It was the thing she liked about meditation, the senses were suddenly far more sensitive. If you were in a forest you could hear insects moving in the trees above you and hear small animals finding food. In a city it wasn't so nice, there was usually a siren blaring somewhere and an argument in a house or apartment somewhere. Not nearly as peaceful.

Here, people were just, quiet, this early in the morning (everyone came from different time zones, but it was settled to just one to people down here at the moment) it was only going to be people on night duty, or Descendants of Sandman meditating.

"So, Descendants of Pitch need to meditate as well?" she was asked. The voice was male, and that's all she could really tell.

"Um, yes." she said, not entirely sure how else to respond.

"Huh." the voice didn't seem to know what to do. "Name's Harry by the way."

Penelope opened her eyes and looked at the man in front of her. Like all Descendants of Sandman, he was short and blonde, although his blonde was almost bright yellow. He had this grin on his face, which Penelope could imagine was almost permanently fixed to his face.

"Penelope."

"Oh yeah, everyone knows who you are. Big bad Descendant of Pitch, scary as all hell, run away!" his grin didn't waver as he sat down next to Penelope, who resisted the urge to move away. She might as well try now.

"You don't look so scary though." he finished, and Penelope shrugged, not sure what else to say.

"Not much of a talker?"

"No."

"Don't worry, I am, if you'll listen." Harry titled his head to one side as he looked at her, and Penelope just found herself staring.

"Um..."

Harry moved again, putting his chin in his hand. "Now I'm sitting down here, I have no idea what to talk about."

Penelope had just about had enough. This guy was weird. "I need to go..." she got up, ready to run to the Training Halls.

"I can come with you." Harry offered, that grin still on his face.

"No, thanks." Penelope did in fact run at that point, who knew social interaction could be so stressful!

After that, Harry wasn't the only one to try to talk to her, they were mostly Descendants of Sandman, although one Descendant of Toothiana did seem to like watching her throwing knives. It was weird, these people had been afraid of her, why aren't they now? Why can't they leave her alone?! All they wanted to do was talk, but that wasn't something she could do, because it was always things she couldn't or wouldn't talk about.

She found herself missing Jackie, and the fact that she didn't feel the need to fill the air with unnecessary words either. It was just company sometimes, that was all, she was still getting used to this.

Thankfully, one of these Descendants seemed to be somewhat sane, or what qualified as sane in her mind.

An older Descendant of Sandman, possibly forties or fifties, she couldn't really tell. His blonde hair was streaked with grey and he had equally grey eyes.

He was also the only one willing to spar with her with sand. It was interesting and a good learning experience for the both of them.

After a few sessions Penelope finally asked.

"So, what's your name?"

"Sebastian." he said, somewhat reluctantly. "You can see why I never introduced myself."

Penelope just continued to dissipate the large amount of scattered black sand. "Why not pick a new name?" she asked quietly, hoping he wouldn't hear her.

"Just used to it." he shrugged, also cleaning up his sand.

The two worked in silence, but she felt a bit more relaxed around this guy at least.

* * *

She was so relieved to have Jackie here now, someone she had some history with. A turbulent history perhaps, but history.

She had not been expecting that hug. It had only been a few months, but Jackie had changed, much to Penelope's disappointment, what if she was more like normal people?

The hug itself had also been odd, Jackie was cool, almost cold, the kind of temperature which would feel worse the longer you're exposed to it. Probably something she couldn't help, but it was odd.

The two had also been whisked off, Jackie for a tour, and Penelope to finish that talk with the other Heads. They were talking about the number of raids that had been done, and whether the Descendants of Pitch had been forced so much into a corner that would use Pitch's base.

Not yet. Penelope told them, but it wasn't far off, one more attack should drive them to use it.

The two didn't manage to meet until the next day.

Penelope was leaving the Council Chamber, and Jackie was leaving the Training Halls. Jackie didn't seem to realise that Penelope was there, so she had to get her attention.

"H-hey." for some reason the word seem to stick in her throat.

Jackie looked up and in her direction, then her face split into a smile.

"Hey."

Penelope could see the change more clearly now. It was amazing how much one person could grow in a matter of months, Jackie seemed, happier, somehow. Neither of them could really notice that Jackie stood a little taller now, now longer shrinking in on herself slightly, or that her gait was lighter than before. Even her smile had changed, it was a more genuine smile than the forced one she had shoved out before now.

In contrast, Penelope was still guarded, a little more relaxed now perhaps, but enough for it show through body language.

However, she had changed. Her sallow skin had become paler from lack of sunlight and her hair, while no longer a mess of tangles, was no longer as neat as it was when she was with the Descendants of Pitch.

Jackie stopped in place, her hands in her jeans pockets. "Do you want to talk?"

Penelope nodded, hiding the cringe. Another sign of change, Jackie talking. Talking wasn't something either of them had really done together.

On the other hand, they both needed practice at pretending to be normal humans.

The Main Cavern wasn't completely flat, so they found a small ridge that they could comfortably sit on.

"So..." Jackie let the question hang in the air.

"... Some things don't change." Penelope said after a minute or so.

"Huh?"

"You were never one for small talk from what I remember." That might have been the most she'd said voluntarily in a long time. It wasn't as bad as she expected.

"Neither were you." Jackie tapped her knee. "So, what _do_ you want to talk about?"

"I don't know."

The two sat in silence for a bit. Not an uncomfortable silence, just, silence.

"Did I ever apologise about the whole...?" Jackie trailed off, not appearing to be looking at anything. Penelope waited for her finish.

"Back in February..." Jackie seemed unable to say, drawing in on herself again.

Penelope had to think about when that was. The Descendants of Pitch did have calendars, she'd just gotten out of the habit of thinking in months.

"Oh, that. Does it matter?" Penelope shrugged in an unsure manner.

"I don't know. I'm sorry about it anyway."

"It was our, _their_, fault. I told them your powers weren't stable, and they went ahead with it anyway. Idiots."

Jackie let an amused huff, a small smile appearing on her face.

"I also never said thank you."

"For what?" Penelope was feeling like she being left behind here.

"You snapped me out of it. Thank you."

"Well, you'd have fainted eventually... What?" Penelope asked as Jackie suddenly doubled over laughing.

"Th-that must b-be what I s-sound like to everyone else!" Jackie laughed. She straightened up, but her hand was still clasped over her mouth as she tried to subdue the giggles. "I don't even know why it's funny."

Penelope was starting to laugh, despite herself. It was odd, high pitched noise, rough from lack of practice. "I don't know why I'm laughing." she got out between giggles.

The two just kept going until the giggles finally faded. Jackie brushed off some ice that had formed under her eye from underneath her glasses, and Penelope watched the motion curiously. After a few seconds she managed to ask.

"Why does it do that?"

Jackie looked at her, before looking at a stubborn piece of ice stuck to her finger.

"It just does. It's annoying." Jackie flicked it off.

"With all water?"

"All water." Jackie confirmed, pushing her glasses back into place. "It's annoying when it rains."

Penelope thought for a second. "I've seen normal sand clump up in the rain, but my sand doesn't do that in water. It just stays as it is."

"It's magic sand."

"And that makes a difference?"

"Probably. It's not something I've thought about." Jackie was idly swirling her finger around, making a small snowflake. It was lopsided, and not very symmetrical, so Jackie let out an irritated noise and let it melt on the ground.

"How hard is it to make those?" Penelope asked.

"Depends, if I concentrate solely on them, then it comes out, okay. But if I don't it looks like, that."

"It's like trying to everyone to make a Nightmare for the first time. Also looks weird."

"Sorry?"

"Um..." Penelope realised that she'd just put herself under the spotlight. "Well, I know Pitch has to turn actual dreams into nightmares to get his Nightmares, but if about four or five of, the Descendants of Pitch, work together, they can make a Nightmare. Looks a bit weird the first time. It's supposed to look like a horse, for some reason. But it doesn't always."

"It's a pun." Jackie explained.

That didn't help much. "...What's a pun?"

"A, play on words." Jackie tried to explain. "Nightmare is a bad dream, and a mare is also a female horse. You know? Puns are usually funny as well."

"It's not funny, it's just weird."

"It's a bad pun."

"Okay..."

Jackie's stomach decided to interject.

"Er, I think I need to go to the Mess Hall. A few other people seem to be going that way as well." There was a trickle of people coming from the Training Halls into the Mess Hall.

"They're refining the spell on it, so it can serve at any time." Penelope informed Jackie.

"Good. That'll be useful. Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"No thanks." Penelope felt oddly drained from the conversation, but not particularly hungry. "I'll see you later."

Jackie shrugged and stood up. "Okay."

Once she had gone Penelope let out a long breath and rubbed her arm. It was good to see her again, despite how much she changed, and at least they were on the same side now.

* * *

The next morning Penelope was meditating with Sebastian, and about fifteen minutes in she noticed a presence. A familiar presence that was holding two bowls of... something. Penelope had no idea what it was.

Penelope opened her eyes to see Jackie standing not too far away, holding two bowls with something sold and white in it. It looked vaguely familiar, but Penelope couldn't quite pin point what they were.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Jackie said. "These won't melt, so take your time."

"...What are they?"

"Ice cream."

"Ice cream for breakfast?" asked Sebastian, making Penelope jump.

Jackie's eyes flicked between Penelope and Sebastian, putting the pieces together and Penelope felt a small rush of panic from her. That threw her off, Jackie had rarely shown fear like that before.

"I didn't know you were here, otherwise I'd have gotten another one..."

"It's alright. I'm Sebastian, and I know who you are."

Jackie's pale face went a little pink with embarrassment, but she was saved from having to do anything.

"I'll leave you two to it." Sebastian walked off and Jackie sat beside Penelope, handing one of the bowls. Now that she looked closer she could see that the white lump had black specks in it.

"Turns out that, while the serving time is still set, the food that's served is not." Jackie was grinning as she dug her spoon into the white mass and put it in her mouth. She hummed happily, which once again threw Penelope off. Jackie was so relaxed around her now, even though, they had been enemies not even a year ago.

"Proper vanilla." Jackie muttered before taking a second spoonful.

"Sorry?"

"A lot of places have vanilla ice cream as pure white, but the flavour is more artificial. Proper vanilla ice cream has bits of vanilla pods, which are the black bits. Tastes so much better."

Penelope carefully took a small amount of the ice cream (now melting since Jackie wasn't holding it) and put it in her mouth. Once the sudden coldness was out the way, it did taste quite nice. Although, she doubted she would manage Jackie's speed of eating it. She was halfway through already.

Penelope smiled and had another, slightly larger spoonful. She could vaguely remembering having something like this when she was a kid. Sweeter, not as creamy as this though, but that was a long time ago.

"Are you okay?" Jackie asked and Penelope jumped, cursing herself for her lapse.

Fine. Thanks for the ice cream."

"Any time."

"Why did you get it?"

"Ice cream makes everything better."

Penelope actually snickered at such a childish response.

"What?"

"I just, didn't expect you to say anything like that."

"It's a personal opinion." Jackie shrugged. "And I think I have it better than a lot of people, I don't have to worry about it melting, so I can take my time. And because the cold isn't a factor I can appreciate the taste more."

"You really like ice cream."

"What gave it away?"

Penelope opened her mouth to reply before she realised that Jackie was being sarcastic. The smile gave it away.

"Oh, never mind."

The ice cream and melted into a white mess in Penelope's bowl by now, flecked with black. Which reminded Penelope worryingly of Nightmare sand in snow, and then that caused the oddest question to pop into her head.

"Can you manipulate ice cream?"

Jackie snorted with laughter.

"Sorry I asked." Penelope withdrew slightly, taken aback by the response.

"No, no. It's not that!" Jackie was struggling to control herself. "It's just, I did try once."

Penelope tilted her head to one side. Given how hard Jackie was laughing, it was probably a funny memory.

"What happened?" she asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I must have been about, four? We were having ice cream for dessert and my brother wasn't eating his properly." Jackie's face was sad for a second, but was quickly back to light hearted. "He couldn't get it on the spoon and it was melting, so I tried to help him." Jackie's grin widened. "I put too much energy into it and the ice cream, exploded. All over the kitchen, my brother, my parents, me."

Jackie chuckled again. "The best part was that it was strawberry, a lovely pale pink colour. Dad had a big lump of it on his glasses."

Penelope chuckled as well, and started to consider sharing a story. Then thought better of it. Any mishaps she had had never ended as innocently. It was usually from when she first tried hunting and missed horribly. She wasn't a sadist!

It was still good to laugh though. "Have you got any more like that?" she asked, she was enjoying this.

Jackie, having finished her ice cream, set the bowl down next to her and thought.

"One time I thought I could win a 3 on 1 snowball fight." Jackie offered. "I was 6 I think, so my brother was 4. It was more of a 2 on 1 as my brother's aim was terrible. I thought I could control enough of the snow well enough to make it fair fight. Half my snowballs crumbled and a further quarter of them either missed and flew right back at me."

Penelope chuckled as well, until her time keeping kicked in. She needed to meet the Heads about now.

"I'd probably better go." she stood up, grabbing her bowl.

"I can take that back." Jackie offered, also standing up.

"Um, thanks." Penelope handed Jackie the empty bowl, which she placed inside her own empty one and put the spoons in the top bowl.

"See you later?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah."

They managed to meet up every morning once Penelope had finished meditating. Small talk still didn't really work, so they ended up talking about some of the specifics of their powers, that they knew. Both were self taught so the extend of nuances were limited.

A week later a group of them, including Penelope, Jackie, Sebastian and Harry, had been called to do the final raid.

Penelope knew that they'd debating on sending Jackie for days. There was a final, marginal agreement under the logic that she did have a lot of raw power which could serve them well.

They hadn't wanted to send Penelope really, but she did know the Descendants of Pitch the best, and Penelope outright volunteered. She wanted to do her bit and show them that she had the trust of HOG, and therefore their protection.

Penelope had trained with the Descendants of Sandman, and had seen the Burgess Branch fight, so she wasn't too surprised by what she saw. Jackie was looking a lot better than the last time she'd seen her fight, in February she believed.

She wasn't sure they'd be enough, but most of the Descendants of Pitch, especially in North America, appeared to be scattered. Maybe, maybe they could do it. Scare them and scatter them enough to not be a worry for a long time.

She had been surprised that had been asked to kill. She would have been horrified had she not been privy to previous discussions. Despite the laws, this was war, different rules could apply.

* * *

It had gone wrong.

An ambush, of course it was. It made sense. Lure them in, thinking that the enemy numbers were low, then spring a trap. From there they could be roughed up a bit, or held hostage. Penelope wasn't going to find out.

She was going to die.

She wasn't scared. That's what was surprising. She stared down Samuel, a man who used to terrify her, talked back to him even, with no fear.

As the arrow of what she guessed to be lead was raised, she looked over at Jackie, who had been screaming her name. The younger Descendant was staring at her in utter horror, her fear practically rolling off her in waves. The extraordinary thing was what that fear was about.

Fear for Penelope. Not for herself, not for her colleagues, her brethren. Penelope.

She wanted to tell her it was okay. Not to mourn, because she was fine with this. There wasn't time though.

Her armour lay in pieces on the ground as she looked back at Samuel, her executioner. As fine as she was with dying, she didn't want to see it.

She closed her eyes, took a deep, steadying breath...

There was a thud to her chest, a brief burst of pain as the arrow ran her through.

Then.

Nothing.


	78. A Good Friend Stays with You

**...And/or tries to protect you.**

**This probably takes place about a week after the war starts, so Jackie is still 14**

I stared out the window, as I had been doing for a few days now.

As far as I knew the war was in full swing, or just getting started, I wasn't sure. I had been reflecting though, going to the Pole, Antarctica and the Warren, all while seeing exactly how the Descendants of Pitch treated their enemies en mass.

And I was scared.

I wasn't going to admit it, according to everyone else I'd just come back from a long weekend trip not feeling so great.

Well, there was some truth to that, but still.

What was happening, just thinking about it made fear roll in my gut. I had been told that Descendants tended to try to not kill each other, but I still couldn't get the image of every Descendant I knew lying dead and bleeding on the ground. That image came from a few nightmares that I'd had.

I'd also been ignoring all calls, Jamie had of course wanted to know what happened but I couldn't say it. He might be jealous, I wasn't sure, but that wasn't the biggest reason.

I wasn't sure if he should know. He wasn't a Descendant, he just knew the Guardians, really he shouldn't be in the know about this, right?

I couldn't really ask, but there was one other issue. I had been targeted before, what if I was again? I don't know how this worked, what if he got hurt because of me?

This is partly what I'd spent those few days thinking about, but I wasn't sure how to approach it, should I call him about this? Was this something you'd do over the phone? No idea.

It was starting to get warmer as well, if I was going to do this then I needed to be in sound mind, not cranky or tired.

"Jackie?" my mom knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

I heard the door open behind me, but I kept staring out the window, which overlooked the woods. You couldn't see the lake because of the tree cover, which was why I practised there.

"Jamie's at the door. Have you been ignoring him since you got back?" Mom asked disapprovingly, reminding me almost painfully of Tina, to the point where I was completely unprepared for it. There was a sudden flare of guilt and I felt my fists clench for just a second.

Sudden bursts of emotion had also been happening more often, sometimes taking me completely off guard.

I shoved it down so I could answer the question.

"I just miss his calls." I lied.

"And you don't think to ring him back?" Mom and Tina had clearly been talking a lot more, they were starting to sound like each other.

"I'm out of minutes."

"I don't believe that for a second." Mom quickly debunked. "You barely use your cell phone for its intended purpose. Or at all, for that matter."

"I had a small plan, is that hard to believe that I ran out?"

"Yes."

Mom then sighed.

"Come on, just talk to him. Only you know what's going on in your head, and Jamie seems to be the only one who can drag it out of you."

"Blunt I see."

"I have to be with you." Mom said dryly. There were days when I didn't have to wonder where my sense of humour came from. "Come on, he's downstairs, your dad's entertaining him."

I nodded, swivelled my desk chair 180 degrees, got up and followed mom out of the room. We went down the stairs and to the left were the lounge was. I could hear dad wildly telling a story, which sounded similar to the ones he used to make up for Danny and I before we went to sleep.

"I've dragged her out." Mom called in.

"Kicking and screaming?" dad asked, and I could hear Jamie snort with laughter.

"You wish." I said, stepping and leaning against the wall.

"There you are! Why haven't you been answering my calls?" Jamie demanded, and I found that every answer I had dried up. I had prepared so many lies, each one ready to draw upon, but I just couldn't say anything of them.

"Erm, because..." for crying out loud, I could even try what I'd already told mom, but even that wouldn't form.

"Let's leave them to it." Mom had to drag dad out, and left the two of us to it.

"... I've just been thinking."

"About what? C'mon I wanna know where you've been!" Jamie clamoured.

"A lot, of, stuff."

I moved away from the door and sat on the couch.

"Well, what kinda stuff?" Jamie sat down next to me, a little too close for comfort.

"Things have gone, pretty, bad."

"How?" he asked earnestly, his big brown eyes looking up and I was at the point where I could tell he would want to help, which didn't help me.

"There's a war, and I don't know what's going to happen, and..."

"And...?"

Every line of thought failed to get out of my mouth. I knew my logic was sound, there were Descendants of Pitch who knew where I was, I knew I was at risk, and I knew that Jamie would try to intervene, and I didn't know what would happen from there.

"You see, I'm worried, about, you." I said slowly.

"Why me?"

"Because, you know me, and, stuff could happen."

Jamie was silent, he probably could see where this was going.

"I mean..." I struggled to explain myself. "The Descendants of Pitch know me, and you, you being around me..." I couldn't say it properly, couldn't bring myself to explain myself in full, the words just weren't there. It felt like my throat was closing up.

"So, maybe, we should stop being friends." I finished, giving up.

"No! C'mon!" Jamie cried. "Why? Just...!"

"I'm sorry." I was surprised how much this was hurting. There was a pain in my chest that I couldn't put my finger on.

I stood up and walked a few steps, folding my arms and not looking at Jamie. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what might happen. I don't want you to get hurt."

Jamie was silent and I wasn't going to turn around to see. With the sudden bursts of emotion I was getting lately I didn't know how I was going to react.

Not looking behind me turned out to be my downfall.

Something short and uncomfortably warm wrapped itself around my waist and I was left stunned.

"Don't worry about me. Descendants don't get non Descendants involved, right? I'll be fine."

"We don't know..."

"_You_ don't know. Besides, Jack would be really mad if they did anything to me!"

"Friends in high places." I muttered.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again. You're my friend, I don't want you to go." his voice was cracking a bit.

My eyes were burning and I could feel small lumps of ice forming underneath my eyes. I hadn't felt that way for... a few months really, but it was different this time. I didn't feel sad, I didn't know what I felt.

"Thank you." my voice was also cracking a bit.

_Wait, he's hugging me, should I hug him back? That's what people do right?_

I awkwardly shifted around in his grip and wrapped my arms around Jamie's shoulders.

"So, don't you worry about me." Jamie said, voice not much better than mine. "You'll be fine, I'll be fine. Just don't do that again."

"Got it."


	79. Nightlight's Legacy

I flipped the folded letter over in my hands, having already memorised the words, as I thought about what was written inside.

It had been a rare direct communication from the Descendants of Ombric in Santoff Claussen to, well, anyone. I could tell because it was in English, while the official language of Descendants is Atlantian. That meant that general communication between Descendants was written in Atlantian, much to my joy.

It was interesting look at, it was written on parchment of all things, with a wax seal in the shape of an hourglass to complete the look. There was another interesting thing about this, it was written directly to me. None of the other Heads, just me. It wasn't just specifically for HOG, it was specifically for me. The former was rare, the latter almost unheard of.

'Head Davies' It read.

'It has come to our attention that something about the Descendants of Jack Frost's powers remain unknown to you. To rectify this, we are inviting you and your familiar to Santoff Claussen at on .XX, you may bring another Head if you wish, but we would like to limit the number of outsiders. We hope you understand. Please bring this letter as proof.

Sincerely.'

There was an illegible scribble at the bottom which I guessed was a signature.

I knew about these guys. They and the Descendants of Katherine saw themselves as Santoff Claussen's final line of defence, which, since Santoff Claussen hasn't been attacked in centuries, seemed a little pointless. I probably wouldn't say this to their face though.

Also, everything about this was telling me to take back up. An unknown place, with an unknown amount of people for a vague reason. Even Taboo might not be enough, especially as supposedly the Descendants of Ombric were inherently more powerful than the Descendants of North.

After weighing my options, I decided Samson was the best choice. He was wheelchair bound, and doesn't like fighting, but he's still not someone to be messed around with. Not to mention that he's the most diplomatic out of all of us, he would be the one to break up an argument if one broke out.

I leaned back in my chair in the base, tipping it back and wondering with a small smirk if Alexander's teacher senses could reach here. I was in my quarters because I hadn't wanted to read this with Jamie around. He'd probably be really excited, but, this felt personal, in a way. The only reason I was considering Samson was because Taboo and I might need backup.

_"So, we're going?"_ Taboo asked sleepily. She'd been dozing while I had gone through the reports that were also here. She raised her head up and looked through the letter. _"It's in a week. Better ask Samson now."_

I let out a long breath and brought my chair back down, then reached for my SPARK. I flicked to Samson on the hologram and quickly checked the time. If I had remembered his schedule correctly, he should be out of work by now, so I called him.

He picked up very quickly.

"Hello Jackie. What can I do for you?" he asked. I could only see him from the shoulders up, but I could see what looked like his lounge in the background.

I quickly explained the letter and his face creased into a thoughtful frown.

"Hmmm. It is intriguing. I believe I do not have work that day, so I can join you. Shall I meet you in the base an hour before hand?"

"Thanks. Samson, that'll be great."

He smiled. "See you then my friend." with that the call cut.

_"Well, that's that."_ Taboo got up and stretched, yawning and flexing her claws. _"Can we do something else now?"_

"I can find you a box if you want." I suggested innocently, and grinned when Taboo growled. She wacked her tail against my shoulder, but I was grinning too much to care.

_"Never mind, if you need me I'll-"_

"Be sleeping somewhere?"

_"In the Ice Training Hall."_ Taboo glared, but it didn't have much venom to it.

"Alright, have fun." I went back to my reports as Taboo left.

_"Sometimes I think you wouldn't know fun if it bit you in the ass."_ Taboo muttered.

"I can still hear you."

_"I know."_

* * *

A week later Samson and I were standing in Siberia, in front of a wall of forest and thorns.

Samson craned his head back as far as he could, almost tipping his wheelchair back to try and see the top of it. "I had read about this. I did not think it would be this big."

"No kidding." was all I could say in response. I didn't have to worry about Samson falling over, he had his sand, he'd be fine.

Both of us were in our cloaks, mine was snapping a bit in the wind while Samson's was pressed against the back of his chair. He was also dressed warmly, but still with impeccable taste despite the yellow, while I was in my usual hoodie and jeans. Snow covered the ground and coated the tree canopy, with lumps of snow on the thorny vines. However looking in there didn't appear to much snow, as if the canopy was so thick it barely let any in.

_"We could go over it."_ suggested Taboo, which I passed on.

"True." Samson mused. "However, there is a story on how we're supposed to go through."

"Go through the forest of thorns, meet the Spirit of the Forest and ignore her jewels. Then get past the bear, preferably by showing him the letter instead of trying to fight. Yeah, I know." I also leaned my head back, I could only just see the top of it myself. "Surely it would be easier to just go over it?"

"There could be magical barriers."

"We won't know unless we try."

"I am in no mood to be electrocuted." naturally he was wary about that.

"We don't know if it's going to be like that." I shrugged. "Could be a benign repellent, like making you forget what you doing, or the infinite loop thing. You think you're going in straight line, but you end up back where you started."

"Plus." I added, looking at his wheelchair. "It would be easier to navigate than a dense forest."

He sighed. "You have a point. After you."

I smirked at him, then after Taboo jumped into my hood I went up on a path of ice, not trusting my wings for this yet.

I could see Samson summon his sand from the corner of my eye, lifting him up onto a floating platform, which quickly morphed into a large wakeboard. The line appeared to be attached to me, but I couldn't feel it, I guess it was just to add to the show.

I skated forward at a moderate pace, just in case there was a magical barrier that wasn't benign, however there appeared to be no resistance.

A concerning lack of resistance. Despite what I had said, this was Santoff Claussen, one of the, if not _the_, safest place on the planet. There had to be more than this, right?

_"Maybe it's a double bluff."_ Taboo mused.

_So that people think it can't be this easy and give up?_

_"Pretty much."_

_That might be it. Can't be certain though._

_"Yeah, last thing we want to do is let our guard down."_

I nodded and kept going. Turns out I was right to be wary.

Without warning thorns appeared in front of us, pointing straight up and blocking our path.

I let out a cry of surprise and skidded to a halt, then took a step to the side as Samson also stopped behind me.

The three of us looked left and right. The thorns were huge, and bare, the only points were on the tips above us. They extended 2 metres left and right, but when we moved either way, another thorn would sprout, with another one on the other end disappearing back down.

"Interesting." said Samson.

"A maze?" I tilted my head to one side. I recognised it from watching Billy play Legend of Zelda.

_"Or a labyrinth."_

I decided I didn't want to consider that. You weren't supposed to find your way out of a labyrinth.

"I would hope so." Samson seemed to have similar thoughts. "Stay here."

I turned to see that he was slowly going up. I watched the thorns as well, to see that they were growing up with him.

So we couldn't go over them.

He landed back beside me on the ice and shrugged. "It appears we must still play by their rules."

"I guess." I had a few ideas. "Hang on."

To test them first I lowered myself closer to the canopy and carefully put one foot onto the treetops. After testing my weight with that foot, I put other one down as well, and the trees took my weight. Next I went to the right and left a large patch of frost on one of the thorns, then turned and walked left until it disappeared. Once it had disappeared I turned back to get it to pop back up again.

I let out a sound of irritation when the thorn appeared without frost on it.

"There goes that idea."

"Not necessarily." Samson countered. "I can leave a trail on the canopy rather than the thorns."

"Surely the sentient animals will knock it down." I wasn't sure on the sentient animal part. I knew that they did defend Santoff Claussen, and that if you could speak their language they were sentient. I guess that came from the fact I grew up not being able to talk to animals.

"I could leave it in the air behind us then, however, the more I leave..."

"The harder you'll have to concentrate. Taboo and I will keep you on the right track."

"Good to hear my friend. Let us go."

We set off, moving a slow pace so not to bump into any thorns that popped up. It became more maze like as multiple paths popped up, and all we could do was follow an old maze rule; keep to the left.

It seemed to work, however all I could see in any direction was the sky and tree tops. If I looked back past Samson I could see where we had come from, but in every other direction it was leaves, bark and air with some cloud. No sign of a village, which is the point, I guess.

Despite the 'keep left' rule, we did have to backtrack and we even managed to go a circle at one point. It was a magical maze after all.

We still kept going, the only conversation occurring between myself and Taboo, and even that wasn't much.

Finally, finally, we reached Santoff Claussen. We fell into it, literally.

"Ahhh!"

My foot had missed the thick canopy and I tipped forward. Taboo also yelled in panic as she fell and I quickly grabbed her in mid air. I managed to flip back so I was going feet first, but didn't have enough time to form a platform, so I braced myself for broken legs.

Which didn't happen.

I landed, feeling like I'd just jumped off a low wall, there was slight pain in my ankles, and that was it. I put Taboo down from holding her awkwardly around the middle and she started sniffing around.

"Jackie!" Samson floated down on a simple sand platform, not bothering to be fancy with it. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." I said as he drew level with me and landed.

_"Never mind that. Take a look at this place!"_

I followed Taboo's gaze and felt my jaw drop.

It looked like a mix between a mad scientists lab and a quaint village. Each house was both normal, and weird. One had a giant spiralling slide down one side, stopping off at each floor with gates on the actual slide. Another had a glass observatory on top of the house, but was also on stilts with no obvious way to access it.

Yet another house had brightly coloured windows that seemed to billow smoke that were the window's opposite on the colour wheel. Further in I could see a house with multiple chimneys, each one different sizes and colours, and the smoke coming out of each one was of a different shape. Next to it seemed to a house designed around scientific apparatus, I could see various giant beakers, Florence and volumetric flasks, test tubes and connecting pipes going in and out of the house.

Just behind us, deeper into the trees seemed to be where the Descendants of Ombric and Katherine had their combat unit. I could see a multi-storey barrack like building, which looked normal in comparison to everything else, except there didn't appear to be a door. Instead there were cargo nets, ziplines and ropes (knotted and un knotted) leading into windows on various levels, and there was a rock climbing wall that appeared to go underground.

Looking to my left I could see a giant tree that was also a house, with a goose bigger than Taboo sitting outside. That had to be Big Root, home of Ombric Shalazar (if he was still alive, I wasn't sure) and Katherine, aka Mother Goose.

The houses were weird, but the people, the people were interesting. They appeared normal, but they were doing magic in the open. Right there in the street, no disguises, people were setting off illusions, sparks, levitation and transformations in broad daylight. Not to mention crazy inventions, someone had rocket powered shoes and was moving in an odd staccato pattern through the air, while someone else appeared to be tinkering with some kind of steampunk robot. Finally, there was someone who appeared to be speaking with various insects, while an old man was conversing with the birds.

A part of me, and gathering from Samson's posture, a part of Samson, wanted to go over and demand that they stop before they attracted attention, except, it wasn't necessary. Santoff Claussen was the only place on earth where normal humans mixed with Descendants and magic was widely accepted and practiced, without fear of retaliation. I was surprised to find that I was jealous; this would be an amazing place to grow up.

* * *

**So, I've finally gotten around to this! Obviously this will be some spoilers showing up in the next part for those who don't know the relationship between Jack Frost and Nightlight, so when it goes up, reader discretion it advised.**

**I should also thank Puella Pulchra, because she was the one who (admittedly inadvertently) got me thinking about how Santoff Claussen would look. I'm also a bit iffy about whether Ombric is alive or not by this point, it's been hinted in the books that he does die at some point, but for this he's in Schrodinger's cat status, both alive and dead.**


	80. Nightlight's Legacy Part 2

**Warning, most definitely spoilers if you don't know the relationship between Jack Frost and Nightlight!**

* * *

"You're late."

We finally noticed a man in his forties, who had been standing not too far in front of us, clearly waiting for us to stop gawking. His dressed in a very formal grey suit, with a waist coat, vest, top hat and pocket watch. The symbol of an hourglass was printed along the edges of his pale grey cloak, which seemed to shimmer in the mid afternoon sun along with his red hair. Despite the reprimand, his blue eyes shone with amusement.

"I always forget how bizarre this must look to people from the outside world." he commented, his voice did have a hint of Slavic to his accent, and strangely some Welsh as well, making him sound a little odd.

"Bizarre is one word that can be used." Samson said. "Intriguing is another."

The Descendant of Ombric smiled. "Speaking of intrigued, how did you find our overhead defences? Not many come that way."

"Very good maze." Samson noted. "Even when keeping to one side we still ended up going in a circle."

"That is the point!" the unknown Descendant grinned. "Only someone determined to get here, or had been invited, could get through that maze. You were lucky you had that letter, otherwise you'd still be up there."

_"Very lucky."_ Taboo added, who I noted seemed a little unsteady, she really didn't like heights, and that fall must have shaken her.

"Oh! Where are my manners? I am Chrono Merlin Raib. Yes, my parents had an, interesting sense of humour." he pre-emptively voided the obvious joke.

"If you have a friend called Arthur..." I started.

"No, although Morgana is another common one." he mused with an odd smile. "Anyway, you must be Head Davies." he turned to Samson. "And you must be Head...?"

"Tramarco. Samson Tramarco."

A pleasure to meet you Head Davies, Head Tramarco. Now, we have business. Follow me."

He turned on his heel and walked into the town, his cloak waving in the light breeze. The three of us followed him, and I noticed that a few people were staring. Not at Taboo, but at us, the strange Descendants, and I couldn't quite figure out their expressions. A bitter part of me wondered if they held the same opinion about the Descendants of Jack Frost that most Descendants did.

I shoved my hands into my hoodie pocket and followed the grey suited man in front of us.

"I would not worry." Samson seemed to know what I was thinking, which annoyed and concerned me. "Santoff Claussen rarely has the same views as the rest of the world."

I nodded to acknowledge that I had heard him, but said nothing. Taboo, bumped her head against me to silently reassure me, staying at the size of a large dog to not freak anyone out too much. I stroked her ruff in response.

We reached a house that looked like it had been grown from a tree, but still had the same dimensions as a normal house. Merlin stopped in front of the door, which looked like a large knot in the wood. He pressed his hand against the darkest part of the knot, which was in the same position as a normal doorknob, and gripped something invisible, pulling the door open.

He turned to look at us. "Excuse the mess." he said before entering, leaving the door open for us.

Samson decided to lead the way, his wheelchair passing through the door with ease. Taboo and I stepped in behind him, seeing an interior completely made of wood, all looking like it had grown naturally. There was a wooden staircase off to the right, above us was a lightshade shaped like an upside tree, with a bulb that looked like it was made with incredibly thin wood. Oh, and the whole place was crowded with teetering piles of books. It made me wonder how this whole place hadn't been set on fire.

The idea made me feel dizzy and sick, so I shook my head slightly to clear the thought.

Samson managed to carefully manoeuvre his way through the piles of books, although I swear I saw one pile move out of the way as he passed. We went into what I think was Merlin's lounge, there were still piles of books everywhere, even covering the couch and table. Off to the side was a table with a mini telescope pointing out of the window, and the only other book free space was a green armchair next to the fireplace, which thankfully wasn't lit.

"Apologies, it's a little difficult to find enough space for them all." said Merlin, and with a wave of his had some of the books on the couch floated off and onto another pile. "Take a seat Head Davies."

I sat down on the new space, with Taboo jumping into my lap like a house cat and changing to the size of one. Samson moved in front of the telescope table to sit between us.

"So, I imagine you're curious about why I've asked you here." Merlin said, his chin resting on steepled fingers.

"You could say that." I responded, feeling a bit like a James Bond villain as I had one hand on Taboo's head.

"Okay, what do you know of magical energy?"

"It flows through meridians that exist in our body in a system similar to the both lymphatic and nervous systems. Lymphatic in that it doesn't have a pump, nervous in that it can reach parts of the body in the same or a similar manner." I rattled off almost by memory. Meridians actually fascinate me, but I didn't get much of a chance to read anything detailed on it.

"Did you also know that the colour of that energy depends on the magic they use? For example, my energy is a grey colour, Head Tramarco's would be gold and a bit gritty, depending on how recently he's meditated."

He turned his blue eyes on me, and instead of the light amusement that had been there before, I got the feeling of x-rayed, which I didn't like. "You... What colour do you think yours would be?"

"Blue." I answered, drawing on the logic he had already presented, although only two examples wasn't much to go off of.

"That is the logical answer." he said, nodded. "However, I have a hypothesis, which is why I called you here."

He reached for a small, black box next to his chair that I hadn't noticed before. It was plain, wooden and rectangular, making its contents difficult to decipher, especially in a place like this.

"Usually when we are injured, magical energy also leaks slightly, as meridians can be damaged just like any other vessel." said Merlin. "However, the energy is invisible, unless the injury is caused by certain metals."

I could guess where he was going now before he even opened the box, and when he did it was confirmed. Shudders went down my spine and there was a twisting feeling in my gut. I wanted _nothing_ to do with the metal in that box.

Taboo growled as I unconsciously drew my feet up closer to the couch and leaned forward slightly, putting my weight on my toes and being ready to make a run for it. Surprisingly Samson's reaction wasn't quite as dramatic, leaning away but making no effort to otherwise get away from it.

Merlin looked at me curiously. "Interesting, a much more pronounced reaction. I'm not fond of this stuff either, but I've never seen anyone react so dramatically." as he said this he pulled out a small knife made of lead from the Earth's Core from the box. Even though it was small I could see that it was trying to suck in the light in the room.

With it out of the box I felt my whole body tense. I did not want to be in the room with it, preferably I wanted to be on a different tectonic plate.

"I need to see your magical energy to test this theory, and this is only way it can be done. I will use a healing spell so you won't experience the negative effects, if you let me."

Taboo was off my lap now and growing in size, growling threateningly at Merlin.

_"You put that thing away right now."_

"Chrono Raib, is this appropriate?" Samson tried to intervene, his body tense.

"It is the only known method, and I'd rather use this than an un-tested method." Merlin reasoned. "Head Davies, I will only do this with your permission."

I felt my hand grip the couch arm so hard I could feel the stuffing trying to burst out, my eyes not leaving that knife. On one hand, having that, _thing_, anywhere near me made my stomach churn and fingers twitch erratically, on the other, I was curious. He hadn't divulged his exact hypothesis, but I had a feeling he was saving it for a grand reveal. He might reveal it if I refused, but he was more likely to tell all if I played along.

I took a few deep, calming breaths, and rolled up the sleeve on my left arm.

"Just do it and get it over with."

Merlin smiled and grateful smile. "Thank you."

He came over from the chair on the other side of the room, avoided Taboo as he went, who still glared and growled at him. I kept my breathing steady, remaining as relaxed possible as the knife approached.

In a quick movement, with no verbal warning, but plenty of physical (he didn't seem like someone who fought) he opened a small cut horizontally along the bone on my arm.

Thanks to the physical warning I barely even flinched from the initial cut. However, the burning sensation that came almost immediately after made me grit my teeth to stop myself from crying out. That hurt like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I also felt an odd hot flush during the less than a second the metal pierced the skin, but it disappeared just as quickly as it manifested, leaving me feeling oddly tired.

There was a concerning black tinge to my skin around the cut, however, my attention was quickly stolen from this as the knife was pulled away from my arm. Hanging from its tip was an oddly liquid string of... something. As I didn't immediately recognise it, I assumed this was magical energy. It flowed in a strange mix of liquid and gas, while still being firmly attached to the knife tip and inside my arm.

The next thing that got me was the colour, because it wasn't blue.

Well, it was, but it wasn't. The colour was an odd mix of silver and blue, not combined into silvery blue, the two colours were very distinct. They swirled around each other in an ever changing pattern, neither of them dominating the other.

It didn't make sense, white and blue, white-ish blue, or a pale blue would have made sense, ice and snow after all, those are the usual associated colours. Not, silver.

"Curious." Merlin tilted the knife, and when the energy caught the light it seemed to sparkle like frost. "One second."

He reached behind him with his free hand and seemed to summon something. Once he pulled it forward I saw that it was a small ball that emitted a soft white light. He held it over the energy, letting the light shine on it. The reaction was different this time, now it seemed to almost glow softly.

Samson was also curious, pushing himself out of his chair with his arms in an attempt to see what was going on.

"What the...?" I asked, although my voice came out quieter than I expected. My head felt light and I noticed that my body was having odd hot flushes that was making me a little bit dizzy.

Merlin noticed that something was off and in a sharp movement he pulled the knife back, snapping the connection to the magical energy, which settled back into my body. He then waved a hand and muttered something, and I felt the heat fade as the cut healed and the blackness faded. Within seconds I was feeling a lot better.

He retreated back to his chair and put the knife back in the box. Everyone relaxed as soon as it was away, and Taboo went back into my lap, but still eyed Merlin warily.

"So, what was that about?" I asked, and Merlin smiled mysteriously.

"It confirmed my theory."

"And that theory is...?"

Merlin kept smiling, and it was getting annoying. "Do you know the history of Nightlight?"

"Yes." I said shortly, just wanting him to get on with it, but he motioned for me to explain.

I sighed a little irritably and complied. "He was the Man in the Moon's bodyguard when he was a baby, and had been the bodyguard/nanny to all the previous Tsar Lunaoffs. When the last Tsar and Tsarina were being pursued by Pitch Nightlight made a last stand and the two plummeted to Earth with Nightlight essentially trapping Pitch. They would both be freed years later and caused a series of events which allowed the Guardians to form. He hasn't been seen since and he's also the only known immortal to not have Descendants."

"Correct." Merlin said. "And what if I was to tell you that I, and some other Descendants of Ombric, knew what happened to him?"

Samson straightened in his chair and I tilted my head.

"Then I would be very intrigued."

"As you may, or may not know, some of us have the power to look into the past. I personally do not have it, but I know some who do. One of them decided to follow Nightlight, out of curiosity. His disappearance came about because he fell into a pond. A pond you're probably familiar with."

_"...No..."_ Taboo had the same thought I had. That was an almost ridiculous coincidence.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Depends." the look of amusement was back. "Nightlight has no known Descendants, however, you can't deny that he and Jack Frost have some similarities."

"...It's a, double heritage?" I asked, not sure what else to call it.

"Essentially." Merlin confirmed. "Making the Descendants of Jack Frost unique, and possibly with an untapped power."

I frowned. "Surely you can't confirm that with only one person in your sample?" I asked, drawing from my high school science lessons.

"It is un-scientific to do so." he agreed. "However, there is little variance between individual Descendants of the same lineage, I have little reason to assume that the Descendants of Jack Frost are any different in that regard."

"But, if there's two immortals, that's two sets of powers, the strength of which might vary between individuals. One set of powers might overpower the other."

"If that were the case, then why have the Descendants of Nightlight not been identified?" Merlin countered. "Descendants match the modern iteration of their ancestor, the Descendants of Toothiana are just one example of this."

Samson seemed to be struggling to follow with the vague English, but either he caught up then or decided it was time to interject.

"You are saying that Nightlight and Jack Frost...?"

"Are one and the same? More or less. Jackson Overland and Nightlight fell into the same lake within a short period of time. The specifics no one knows, but there's no denying it now."

Merlin turned back to me as Samson's eyes widened and he slumped back to process the information. "Can you repeat this for me, just as a quick experiment. Nightlight, bright light. Sweet dreams I bestow. Sleep tight, all night. Forever I will glow."

I recognised the rhyme as Nightlight's oath, and said the words.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see a soft, pulsing light, but it was only when I looked down did I realise that it was coming from me.

_"And now you've turned into a glowstick."_

I snorted with laughter at that, and the light seems to increase in intensity for a few seconds before dying back down, the pulses matching my breathing pattern.

"Fascinating." Merlin breathed. "I'd love to study this further..."

"Unfortunately I have a paid job, a boyfriend, and Head commitments. I'm not the best guinea pig." I said, but I did agree, this was intriguing, I had to explore this further, but perhaps not now.

The first concern suddenly appeared. "How do I stop glowing? I can only get away with this for so long."

"How do you stop using ice?" Merlin asked.

"That's different, I'm used to that. This feels, completely different. It's... softer, harder to quantify." It was difficult to explain, this new power almost felt a foreign entity in comparison to my ice, yet it wasn't unwelcome and I did get a strange sense of déjà vu with it.

Not sure what else to do to get it stop, I tried the old breathing exercises that Jack taught me, when he used to teach me.

"That appears to be working." Samson commented, and once I was done I wasn't glowing.

"Well, this has been, illuminating." Merlin grinned at his pun while I groaned, although Samson chuckled. "I believe that is all. I shall you a quicker way out instead of you trying to navigate our maze again."

Merlin got out of his seat and I followed, with Taboo scrambling up to sit on my shoulder for now. Samson and I followed him out of his house and back towards the forest.

Once we reached the start of the trees Merlin stopped.

"I shouldn't go with you. There is a path just there." he pointed to a gap in the grass. "Follow it and you'll exit the forest very quickly. Although I wouldn't worry too much about straying, it is easier to exit the forest than it is to enter."

"Thank you Chrono Raib." said Samson. "It has been a pleasure."

"The pleasure's all mine Head Tramarco. Oh, and Head Davies."

I looked over as Taboo jumped off my shoulder. "Yes?"

"That letter will no longer be valid once you leave the forest surrounding Santoff Claussen, so you will not be able to return easily, just as a warning. Second, I imagine you will attempt to experiment with your new found power, I would appreciate it if you could keep me updated, I am just as curious as you are."

"Sure. I'll have to send it the usual way." I said, shrugging.

"That's fine. One more piece of information. Nightlight had green eyes."

Taboo was the one who was confused. _"Why's that important?"_

"I guess I can't ignore anyone with green or hazel eyes." I noted, feeling some guilt twist in my stomach. In terms of genes green and brown are equally dominant, so both alleles were present they tended to mix, getting hazel, and since brown eyes was also a common physical trait for the Descendants of Jack Frost, it made sense that hazel might become a trait to look for.

"Excellent point. I wish you luck." the spark in Merlin's eyes was back, maybe he was just someone who found a lot of things amusing.

Taboo growled in an irritated manner as Samson and bid our farewells and went into the forest.

_No need to be so grumpy._

_"I have every reason to be grumpy. He slashed you with a knife."_

_I said it was okay._

_"Still not happy about it."_ she turned around and growled back at the town.

"Easy." I place a hand on her ruff. "We found something interesting out. Surely that balances?"

Taboo growled and for a few minutes said nothing else as we walked.

_"...This new power had better be worth it."_

* * *

**With Merlin, I had a hard time thinking of a title for him, so I went with a made up one. Chrono, which is derived from chronological and the Titan of Time, Kronos/Cronos.  
Apparently a lot of the King Arthur stories are based in Wales, hence the Welsh name and accent. Raib is pronounced **  
**R-eye-b and I believe if Welsh for spell. Finally, Merlin is a species of raptor (believe it or not) which can be found in Siberia and a lot of Northern Europe, so the name has a double meaning.**


	81. Old Personalities

**Finally, after not activity for, two months? I think, I'm baaaack!**

**Okay, spoilers for those who don't know about the canon relationship between Jack Frost and Nightlight. You have been warned.**

**Other titles included 'Jack, You're Nightlight' and 'How to Tell Someone he's not Who he Thinks he is'  
This is my own take on the exact relationship between Jack and Nightlight, you might not agree, I just ask you be respectful when disagreeing. This would also be a sort of sequel to 'Nightlight's Legacy'**

Winter was here again, and so Jack was soaring over Burgess. Not that he needed much of an excuse to visit, but it was made better by the snow he was spreading. The kids were going to be in for one heck of a snow day when they woke up.

Whistling 'Rise of Valkyries' he made his way, swooping and soaring, towards the lake, which shone in the bright moonlight. Jackie should be there around this time, and there wasn't an emergency as far as he knew.

So it confused him to find the lake empty.

"Jackie?" He called, confused, and slightly worried. She was a grown woman, about 28 now, no reason to panic. Maybe something had come up in the boring part of her life. That'll probably be it.

Jack shrugged, maybe he'd catch her another night.

That thought was shoved out of his head when there was a bright white light and a muted 'boom' from deeper in the woods. Panicked birds took flight and Jack started, looking towards where the explosion had come from.

With a concerned frown he took to the sky and flew in the direction of the explosion.

It wasn't obvious from the air where the explosion had come from, but he quickly found a clearing where a familiar figure was lying on the edge if it. A familiar figure in a blue hoodie.

"Jackie!" Jack cried, dropping out of the sky and barely even staggering from the landing before running over. She appeared to be unconscious, but unharmed, her glasses askew on her face.

Since she didn't appear to be in any danger, Jack looked around the rest of the clearing. Any snow that had settled had been blasted away by something, probably Jackie, leaving wet grass and mud exposed. Snow was still coming down and beginning to settle again, making Jackie look like she'd been dusted with icing sugar.

Off to Jack's left was a video camera and tripod that appeared to have been fixed to the ground, which was also getting a dusting. That made Jack frown, what was that doing there?

A groan from Jackie sent him spinning back towards her, watching her push herself up to a sitting position.

"Jackie!"

"Yeah?" Jackie groaned, sounding groggy and tired as she fixed her glasses and wiped the snow off her face. "Oh, hi Jack."

"You've been unconscious for moon knows how long and all you have to say is 'oh hi'?" Jack asked, incredulous.

"It's nothing to worry about." Jackie said, using the tree behind her to pull herself to her feet. Once she was up she appeared to be a bit wobbly, but otherwise stable.

Jack didn't believe her. "You can barely stand up. And there was this massive explosion from around here somewhere. What if you had been caught up in that?"

Jackie made her way over to the camera, brushing and shaking off the snow. "Okay, I guess there's reason to worry, but I'm fine."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You say that a lot, somehow I never believe you." He was also concerned now, Jackie could wish away the snow with a flick of her finger, why was she bothering to brush it off?

"I have no injuries, I'm not mentally damaged, well, anymore than usual." Jackie said while checking the camera and brushing snow off it. "Nor have I had a massive change in personality, does that help?"

"Then why were you unconscious?"

"Overdid on my powers again. You'd think I'd learn." Jackie was now checking that the footage was okay, with the camera on mute for some reason. Jack's curiosity got the better of him and he went over to have a look.

"Why were you recording?"

"It's good to watch what I'm doing when I'm practicing, I can't see everything I'm doing."

"And you need to do that this far from the lake? And without Taboo?"

"Taboo tends to get bored while I'm practicing, and I thought I'd try a change of scenery." Jackie was packing up now, satisfied that the recording was okay.

"Okay, I know you. You wouldn't move somewhere new for 'a change of scenery' that's not like you."

Jackie shrugged. "It's true."

"Jackie, I'm over 300 years old, I can tell when someone's lying to me."

"I'm not lying."

"Yes you are." Jack looked upset. "Do you not trust me?"

"Jack." Jackie groaned, annoyed that he'd pulled that card. "You know the answer to that."

"Then why are you lying to me?"

"You quite clearly don't trust me if you think I'm lying."

"I know when you're lying!"

"How?"

"You looking slightly off centre. You're not looking at me in the eye." Jack looked very smug as Jackie looked surprised. He doubted even she knew that little tic. Granted it was a tiny thing that you'd really have to watch to notice.

Jackie sighed. "Alright. I was practicing a new power that I found out I had."

"What new power? Is this something I should know?"

"I don't know. It's not as impressive as what I can do normally, yet. Currently I just light up like a glowstick, and then when I try and channel the energy, it explodes. I'm trying to work out how to stop it exploding."

"That explains the explosion..."

"I tend to get flung back a bit, but it's nothing big." Jackie packed the camera away in a bag she'd stashed behind a tree and pulled out a torch, switching it on. "That's why I'm out here, and why Taboo isn't here, I don't want her getting hurt."

"And I'm going to guess that the camera is to help with that?"

"I'm keeping a video log of my progress. The leader of the Descendants of Ombric has an interest in this, so I'm keeping him posted." Jackie slung the bag over her shoulder and shone the torch in front of her. The light shook in her unsteady hands. "I'm going to head back now though."

"No snowball fight?" Jack asked hopefully, a snowball forming in his hands and hovering in the air.

"I'd love to, but I'm too tired, maybe tomorrow if you're around." Jackie shook her head, a small regretful smile on her face. She was still a little wobbly when she walked.

"You're walking back to the apartment?" Jack asked, knowing that if she'd over done on powers, she wouldn't be able to skate back. He didn't wait for a response he continued. "Not happening."

"I don't expect you to carry me Jack." Jackie grinned. "I'm a bit heavier than when I was sixteen."

"Theeeen, I'll walk with you." Jack said, landing properly.

"You really don't have to be a gentleman."

"What kind of uncle would I be if I let you walk back on your own like this?"

Jackie rolled her eyes. "I'm nearly 30."

"And I'm over 300, what's your point?"

"Alright. Let's go."

Both ice wielders walked through the woods. There wasn't a path this deep in the trees, so they were jumping over tree roots and pushing aside face high foliage. The moon was bright that night, but not bright enough to get through the snow laden canopy, hence the torch.

"So, when did you learn you could light up like a flashlight?" Jack asked, walking a little too slowly for his liking, but Jackie wasn't going to be speeding up any time soon.

Jackie saw no harm in telling him. "I got a message from Chrono Raib, the leader of the Descendants of Ombric. It was a very cryptic message asking me to go to Santoff Claussen."

"Wait, you _went_ to Santoff Claussen?"

"Yes. Did North tell you about it?" Jackie ducked under a low hanging branch.

"Yeah. Said he didn't want to go back, too many memories." Jack shrugged in a 'what-can-you-do' way. "What was it like?"

"The weirdest place I've ever been to, and the most interesting. I'm not lying when I say that there was a house with slides on the outside instead of stairs."

"Anything else?"

"Don't try to go above the forest unless you enjoy being pierced with thorns."

"Of course you'd remember that." Jack rolled his eyes and slung his staff across his shoulders before jumping up and walking along a branch in the dark.

"I'm the one out of the two of us who is most likely to die, I'm going to remember things that might kill me."

"You're grinning at that." Jack commented, not needing to look down to know.

"Amused by own morbid sense of humour." Jackie assured. "Anyway I met Chrono Raib, his name is Merlin by the way."

"Seriously?" Jack was grinning now, jumping back down.

"Descendant of Ombric family, Welsh heritage, it was bound to happen." Jackie hopped over a fallen log, still feeling drained, but a bit more energetic as Jack was with her. "He seems to like being mysterious. He said some things about you and Nightlight before the grand reveal; I can glow!" Jackie ended off sarcastically, laughing.

"I can understand talking about me, but who's Nightlight?"

"You don't know?" Jackie looked over, shining the torch at him so she could look at him properly for a second before moving it back to where she was going.

Jack shook his head, then frowned. "The name sounds familiar..." He vaulted over another, larger log using his staff, before helping Jackie climb over it, much to her annoyance.

"I'm perfectly capable of climbing." She grumbled, the torch dangling off a strap on her wrist.

"You're power drained, I'm taking any chances."

"Fine. Anyway, Nightlight..." Jackie trailed off as she dropped down on the other side of the log. "That's really something you should talk to the other Guardians about. They're more likely to know about him than me."

"Well, you must know something."

Jackie really didn't want to go into what Merlin had told her, so went vague and basic.

"Well, he was one of the original Guardians, and disappeared off the map a few centuries ago. No one knows what happened to him."

"Big mystery, is that everything you know?"

"Yes." Jackie made sure to look Jack right in the eye this time with the help of the torch.

"Liar."

"What?"

"That was a really forced look. You know more."

"Damnit, I'm going to have to practice that."

"I'm going to regret telling you that tic, aren't I?" Jack asked with a wry grin.

"I'm on my way to being the world's best liar."

"Should you really be gloating about that?"

"I have to gloat about something."

"Anyway..." Jack got back on track. "You know more about Nightlight than you're saying."

"He could fly, had a spear and looked a bit like you."

"So, devishly handsome then?" the smug grin was back.

"If I agree I'm going to sound really creepy." Jackie laughed. "And I don't know, it's not as if I was around when he was."

"Then how do you know that he looked like me?"

"Going off what Merlin said."

"And how did he know? Unless he's the actual Merlin."

"No. The Descendants of Ombric can look into the past, present and future at will. I guess one of them got curious about Nightlight."

"Then surely they found out what happened to him."

"If they did they didn't tell me."

"And there's another lie."

"Has anyone ever told you that you can be really annoying?"

"I'll be even more annoying if you keep lying to me." Jack flew up and started to poke Jackie in the shoulder with his staff.

"Fine, fine." Jackie shoved the staff away, walking backwards for a second before turning back around. "You really want to know?"

"Why do think I've been asking Icicle?"

"Okay." Since he was so desperate to know, Jackie just decided to be blunt. "He fell in a lake, around about the same time someone called Jackson Overland did." Jackie sent a knowing look to Jack, who had all but stopped in his tracks. She'd already blown his mind, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to see what he would be like once she finished.

"After that, you came out. Two went in, one came out. You can do the math." Jackie finished, and it seemed that Jack's brain had crashed.

Jackie waved her hand in front of his face. "Is your brain still functioning Snowman? Hellloooo?"

Jack blinked and took a step back. "I...I don't... I don't _remember_ being Nightlight, but I remember being Jack Overland..." Jack looked really panicked.

"Nightlight also had a history with amnesia, and he wasn't human. Maybe that has something to do with it?" Jackie shrugged, but grew concerned as Jack looked more confused. "Do you need to sit down?"

Jack nodded slowly and sat down on the ground without another word. Jackie stood awkwardly before taking off her bag and sitting down next to him. She rummaged in her bag before finding a bar of chocolate and waving it in front of Jack's face.

"Sugar helps with shock."

"Don't tell Tooth that." was the instant response and Jackie chuckled, glad to see that Jack wasn't completely out of it.

"I won't tell her if you won't." Jackie quipped as Jack took the chocolate bar.

"Speaking of Tooth, you two have been getting friendly." Jack noted, deciding to take his mind off the revelation by just talking.

"What? You disapprove Uncle Jack?"

"No, just curious." Jack took a bite out of the chocolate bar.

"I think she just wants to be friends." Jackie shrugged. "I think she also knows that the others can be a bit..."

"You're not going to say, intimidating, were you?" Jack looked amused.

"Well, you're all centuries old, so it is a little." Jackie admitted.

"What, even Sandy?"

"The Sandman is millennia old, and if what I've seen his Descendants do is anything to go by, I don't want to get on his bad side."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to do that?" Jack laughed. "What about North?"

"I get the impression you could plug him into a power station and he'd be able to keep it going for a year!" Jackie laughed. "Also, ex bandit king, and just a bit too enthusiastic for my tastes."

"Fussy." Jack took another bite and spoke before swallowing. "What about Bunny?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Jackie shot before she really thought, and it was only Jack's snort of laughter that made her realise what she'd said.

After an embarrassed cough Jackie was silent for a seconds, trying to gather her thoughts on the Pooka.

Jack's laughter suddenly increased in intensity. "You're not _scared_ of him , are you?"

"No." Jackie defended. "I'm just, wary."

"Why?"

"He's got a rough attitude I guess." Jackie coughed. "Anyway, sounds like you've recovered, shall we keep going?"

"Oh no, I've got to dig more into this. You're scared of the Kangaroo?!"

"I am not!" Jackie insisted. "Like I said, he's got a rough attitude, difficult to read. And the fact that he's older than the Earth doesn't help either."

Jack just snickered to himself.

"Shut up!" Jackie shoved him in the shoulder, laughing despite herself. Very few people made her feel this relaxed, even when annoyed.

Jack laughed as well, then jumped to his feet. "Let's get back before Jamie thinks you've been kidnapped."

"I don't think he'd be surprised, given some of the stuff that happens with HOG." Jackie also on her feet now, picking up her bag.

The two kept walking, Jackie still lighting up the way with the torch.

"So, the Nightlight thing?" Jackie poked carefully after a minute, Jack tensed, but didn't appear to freak out. "I would suggest talking to the other Guardians. From what I know they knew Nightlight, so maybe they could tell you more about him."

"How though?" Jack's mind was elsewhere. "How could I be Nightlight?"

"I don't know!" Jackie exclaimed. "You could be a fusion of the two for all I know! Again, ask the Guardians, they should know more about this stuff than me!"

"Okay, sorry. Didn't think you'd get so wound up." Jack mumbled.

"You're asking me questions I don't know the answer to. I find it annoying." Jackie sighed.

"I forgot, you like being a know-it-all."

"Of course I do. You only just figured that out?" Jackie shot him a grin as they were walking. "We should be almost at the lake now."

"You come out here often?"

"Every few days lately." Jackie paused for a few seconds. "I used to come here a lot when I was younger."

"Oh?" Jack rarely heard Jackie talk about when she was a kid.

"It was after Daniel, you know. Anyway, I used to wonder out here. Half hoping I'd get lost. I never did for long, but I got to know these woods pretty well. I stopped after a while, but I now I go out here to practice, so I've gotten re-acquainted."

"I thought you were an indoor kid."

"My parents were grieving, I didn't want to be around that when I felt as guilty as I did."

"I went around here when I was a kid too, Jack Overland... Wow I have to specify now."

"I don't think Nightlight had a childhood on Earth."

"Touché. But, yeah, I went out in these woods a lot as a kid."

"Anything changed?"

"The trees are a lot bigger now." Jack smirked. The trees were smaller in his memories as Jack Overland, but he still had plenty of Jack Frost memories of seeing those trees grow.

"300 years would do that. Ah, we're here." The two had reached the lake. "So, are you going to go all the way and walk me to my front door, or shall we leave it here?"

"I was going to, but, then the Nightlight thing..."

"Go think about it." Said Jackie. "I'll be alright. See you tomorrow for that snowball fight?"

"Will your powers have recovered by then?"

"Probably not." Jackie conceded. "It'll make it more fun. See you Snowman." She raised a hand in farewell before walking back towards Burgess, the wobble in her step almost gone.

**I suppose I should explain the wobble. If you've read the chapter on Meridians then you'll know what I mean by power drainage, Jackie's over exerted herself and almost completely drained her meridians. If you don't know what those are, go read the chapter.**

**Jackie's wobbly because an energy that she's used to always being there is almost gone. It has no real physical effect on her physical energy from respiration in the cells, it's just a shock and the weakness she's feeling is more psychological than anything else.**

**Since it's not a complete drain and she's more used to it now that she's older (and it happens almost every time she tries to use Nightlight's power) it will only take her a few days to be back to full strength.**


	82. Insomnia

**Odd story on this one. I was basically thinking up potential questions for a Q&amp;A (I have an ego, sue me) and this came about from that. Although if anyone wants to ask any of the large cast anything, then go ahead. I would just ask that you keep it to my OC's. I'm not sure how good I'd be with the Guardians or Pitch.**

**Also, this can take place in the HOG/Mimpossible universe as well. For those who have read the second HOG/Mim crossover on my DeviantArt, part of that mentioned dream sequence will make sense.**

A sharp intake of breath at around 3AM signalled Jackie being thrust from another nightmare.

Breathing heavily her eyes scanned the ceiling, trying to pick out something familiar in the dark and bad vision. When nothing else happened her breathing began to slow and she sat up, reaching for where she knew her glasses were.

That had been a particularly bad one, even though the images in her brain were starting to drip away like sand in an hourglass. It had made as much sense as Alice in Wonderland, and not helped by Jamie's recent lecture material on Revenants that he'd mentioned.

Jackie sighed and got out of bed, calling back the frost that had formed in her sleep. Jamie shifted under the covers, showing that he had been woken up as well.

Jackie winced, but quickly and quietly stepped over Taboo, whose ear flicked in her direction, before changing into a shirt and shoes.

Time to go for a nightly run.

* * *

Jackie was back inside as the sun was peeking over the horizon, and at this point she would drop back into bed for a few more hours of sleep. This sleep would normally be devoid of nightmares, but this time, Jackie paused.

Jamie was back asleep and Taboo was dozing peacefully, but when Jackie considered going to sleep, she felt something twist unpleasantly in her gut.

It took her a minute to recognise the sensation as fear, an emotion she usually shoved to one side and ignored.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance, fear was not necessary here. It had no purpose and she should go back to bed. Jackie took another step towards the bed, only for the twisting sensation to start again, more aggressively.

There was no emotion strong enough to block it out, and she did try to shove it aside, only for it to start up again pretty quickly.

Well, there were some reports that needed reading over, maybe she could get an early start on those before heading off to the bookshop later.

Nodding to herself, Jackie left the room and got herself an early breakfast.

Later Jamie would raise an eyebrow when he found out Jackie was already working, but would ultimately brush it off for now.

* * *

Jamie let out a long yawn at around eleven that night, stretching far enough to cause some of his joints to pop. He then went all the way and cracked his knuckles, neck and back.

"Seriously?" sighed Jackie, loud enough to be heard from the other side of the room.

"You're just jealous." he called over to Jackie's desk

"Really not."

"You keep telling yourself that." Jamie stood up, stretching once again, but without the joint popping this time. "I'm gonna to go to bed, you coming?".

There was a pause before the answer.

"No, I'm going to stay up for a bit longer. Get these done."

"Okay, night Jackie, love you." Jamie called again, leaving the room.

"Love you too."

* * *

A few hours later Taboo stretched and nudged Jackie, who was still at her desk.

_"C'mon, you should go to bed."_

"I'm fine."

Taboo growled, that phrase was not a good sign.

_"I know you didn't go to bed at dawn this morning, so go to bed."_

"It's a lot of paperwork."

_"Jackie..."_

"One night without sleep won't kill me."

Taboo growled, but also yawned, feeling Jackie's own tiredness through their connection.

_"You're tired though."_

"Go to bed Taboo."

_"Only if you will."_

Jackie let her own growl of annoyance. "Taboo, just leave it. Go to bed."

Taboo sat down on her rump, staring at Jackie. The answer was clear.

Jackie lifted her hand and clenched it, allowing frost to form on the doorknob to the bedroom. She might regret what she was about to do.

Taboo appeared to lose control of her body, and was slowly lifted off the ground.

_"Jackie, don't you dare!"_ Taboo let out a real world growl as Jackie used her power to lift the ice tiger and move her towards the door.

_"Jacqueline Olivia Davies. Put. Me. DOWN!"_ Taboo snarled, which Jackie ignored, her twitching fingers the only sign of the ice manipulation.

Taboo's back foot met the wall and she took the opportunity to push off the wall, temporally breaking Jackie's hold.

_"For moon's sake Jackie what was that about?"_ Taboo demanded once she'd landed, teeth bared and growling. _"You know I hate that!"_

"Just go to bed, I'll be going soon as well." Jackie assured, having not looked up from her paperwork the entire time.

_"Like I believe that."_Taboo snapped, but she turned away and walked out of the room anyway. _"Whatever, see if I care."_

Taboo used her tail to pull the bedroom door shut behind her, and when the click was heard Jackie relaxed and sighed. She leaned back and rubbed her eyes underneath her glasses, letting out a yawn while doing so.

"What am I doing? I should go to bed..."

There was that twisting again, that reluctance.

"What is the matter with me?!" Jackie hissed to herself. "This isn't like me at all!"

As she glared at her desk in irritation she noticed even her hands were shaking, and she let out a humourless 'heh'.

"I can't believe this. I'm actually scared of going to sleep." She muttered so hopefully no one would hear.

She gripped her desk and stood up, with the full intent of putting this 'to bed' as it were. However, there it was, that reluctance, she just couldn't make herself move towards the bedroom. She couldn't even remember the last nightmare, other than... The Revenants.

Jackie shuddered, seeing the glow of their eyes in her mind. She didn't know if they were a real thing or not, although it was often said among Descendants that 'all the stories are true.' Who's to say that the mythical creatures that Jamie learns about on his course are actually all real, and are either hidden or extinct. She should really go through the Records Room again if she was that curious, and this train of thought was only stalling her.

Although...

"Maybe I'll do some late night reading. Maybe I'll fall asleep naturally that way." Jackie conceded out loud, writing a note to Jamie in case she wasn't back when he was up, and leaving the flat for the HOG base.

* * *

"Sir? Sir?"

Jackie stirred in her dreamless sleep, for once not instantly awake. She was at an odd position, sitting with her head resting on something solid in front of her.

_Went to the Records Room... Must have fallen asleep..._

Well, at least she had gotten some, and no nightmares either. That was a plus.

With a tired groan Jackie lifted her head and looked at the person disturbing her sleep. Ironically it was a Descendant of Sandman, one of the Scribes no doubt.

"Ah, you're awake." The Descendant took a nervous step back. He seemed to be a little younger than Jackie, and infinity more fidgety and nervous.

Jackie sat right up, yawned and stretched before looking over at the Scribe. "How long have I been here, do you know?"

"I-I saw you come in a few hours ago. I d-don't think you've been asleep for that long though..."

Jackie nodded absentmindedly, looking down at the document she'd been reading. She couldn't remember reading any of it.

_Well, poor memory is a sign of sleep deprivation... I think._

Jackie groaned, startling the other Descendant, who hadn't left. This had gone on too long already. She wasn't the kind of person who gave into fear easily, so she should just go to bed.

Jackie stood up, rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses.

"Thanks you for waking me, I suggest you get back to what you were doing."

"Yes sir!" the Descendant scurried off somewhere and Jackie resisted the urge to groan again.

_Whatever, let's just actually go to bed. At this point hopefully I'm too tired to care._

* * *

Jackie stirred, and was suddenly alert and awake, then frowning in confusion. She was staring up at the ceiling as she lay in bed, having been too tired to be scared earlier, as she'd predicted. However, the ceiling was a lot lighter than it should be.

She rolled over and reached out for her glasses. Once the alarm clock swam in clarity Jackie shot upright. It was 10AM.

"No!" Jackie cried, jumping out of bed, not worrying about trying to dodge Taboo, she wasn't there. Jackie was supposed to be at the shop by 8!

"No no no no no no no, damnit!" How could she have overslept like that? Had she forgotten to set the alarm in her sleep deprived delirium? No, it was always set to the same time!

Jackie tore into the kitchen for something to eat, looking for where she had last left her phone. Jamie was sat at the table with a piece of toast, and Taboo was sitting with her head on the table, both looking oddly calm in Jackie's whirlwind.

"Morning Jackie." He said, as calm as he looked.

"Morning." Jackie was ripping open cupboards. She could not be late. She did not do late for something like this!

"Relax Jackie." Jamie started, but Jackie interrupted.

"Relax? I'm late for work, by about two hours!"

_"He called Tina."_ said Taboo, the same time Jamie said. "I called Tina."

Jackie paused, looking at the two of them. "What?"

"I called Tina, and said you wouldn't be coming in because you hadn't been sleeping properly." Jamie looked smug as he bit into his toast. "I woke up when you came in from wherever you'd been at 6AM, and I would suggest you go back to bed. Four hours of sleep is not enough."

"I can run on that much." Jackie had calmed down now, just standing there holding an open cupboard door.

"I don't care. As your boyfriend, and friend in general, I would say go to back to bed."

"It'll be noon in two hours."

"And? You've never slept that long?" Jamie paused for a second before answering his own question. "Wait, of course you never did that. Well, no time like the present! Go and feel what it's like to sleep until the afternoon guilt free!" he laughed.

Jackie raised her eyebrows. "I'm not doing that. I'm up now, might as well stay up."

Taboo let out an amused growl. _"Go to bed, or I will drag you, like you tried to do to me last night."_

"You're not going to let that go for a while, are you?" Jackie asked, having located what she wanted and was pouring cereal into a bowl.

_"Correct. I'm going to milk this one."_

"Fair enough, I deserve it." Jackie shrugged, sitting down to eat opposite Jamie, only to have Jamie pull her bowl away from her.

"Jamie." Jackie sighed. "Give me the bowl."

"I will if you go to bed." Jamie had a half smirk on his face.

"Jamie, give me the bowl."

"Nope."

Jackie frosted the bottom of the bowl and pulled it back towards her that way.

Only to have Jamie reach over and take it back again.

"We can do this all day." Jamie was full on grinning now.

"Just let me eat, Jamie!" despite herself, Jackie was laughing.

"Go to bed and get up no earlier than 1PM, and I'll stop being annoying."

Jackie threw her hands up in defeat, finally admitting that she was still tired.

"Alright, you win. I'm going back to bed." She got up and walked back to the bedroom.

"See you in three hours!" Jamie called after her.

"Love you too!"

_"Aaand this went from humorous to lovey dovey in five seconds flat."_ Taboo grumbled.

_You love it really. At least I'm not trying to force you anywhere._

_"Only I can bring that up!"_ Taboo laughed reluctantly, trying to remain irritable.

_Sure, sure. _

**Revenants are undead beings that were either wronged or murdered when they were alive. They retain all their memories from when they were alive, and only have one goal, to kill the person that wronged them. They also have no love for the rest of humanity, killing any humans they come across. They are stronger, faster and more intelligent than something like a zombie, and can exist at various stages of decomposition. They've been known to drink blood, and when they find their target, their eyes begin to glow.**

**You can see why Jackie would be worried about these things existing.**


	83. Descendants of Ombric Information

**I know it's been a while since Nightlight's Legacy, but I thought this was still relevant. Katherine will come tomorrow.**

* * *

Signature colour-very pale grey

Signature weapon-none, the Descendants of Ombric are not natural fighters, although those that do use magical staffs or if they're feeling particularly flamboyant, wands.

Symbol-Gold hourglass

All have a strong connection to magic, stronger than that of the Descendants of North. They are excellent academic learners, although like everyone, each one has a field they are especially good at. Magic however is something they all excel in. Each one has an understanding of the time stream, and and can look into it with the right spell, equipment or preparation, but only at certain points depending on the person. Some can only see the future, the past or the present, some can do multiple, none can do all three. They can also sense if someone has gone too far with messing with it.

Like most Descendants a Descendant is born every few generations. Once one is born and starts showing signs of magic, usually around four or five before they start school, a Descendant of Ombric will come in, explain to the parents, and take the child to Santoff Claussen, where they live and train.

Most live there the majority of their lives, although often taking trips back home to see family. They see themselves as the last line of defence in Santoff Claussen along with the Descendants of Katherine. Since it is possible for someone to get past the forest, the spirit and the bear, the Descendants consider themselves the line that no one's been able to get past. That's because no one's tried since, so they still stick to the 10/20% combat force and everyone else learns and teaches various forms of magic or other subjects.

They were the ones who got the Descendants of Toothiana, Sandman and Bunnymund together to fight the Descendants of Pitch when Pitch rose again. However, once there was talk of HOG being formed they retreated back to their homes, which wasn't Santoff Claussen at the time. Only relatively recently did they move there.

Their origins are unknown to anyone outside of the Descendants of Ombric and Katherine.

Most have red hair and either blue or green eyes.


	84. Descendants of Katherine Information

Signature colour-pale yellow

Signature weapon-dagger

Symbol-Quill

The only set of Guardian Descendants HOG could never find. The Descendants of Katherine have simultaneously the oddest and most widespread ability. Storytelling.

While this is a talent that is certainly not limited to the Descendants of Katherine, it is still a defining characteristic.

The Descendants of Katherine can take it one step further however, with some having the ability to literally make stories come to life. Usually through moving drawings, so the Descendants of Katherine are usually skilled artists as well.

The Descendants of Ombric were the ones who managed to find them, and they live in Santoff Claussen the same way that they do. The Descendants of Katherine do not have the same ability with magic, but they make up for it by sheer imagination on how to use it.

While Santoff Claussen is a peaceful place, the Descendants of Katherine still learn how to fight both unarmed, with daggers and magic, more than the usual 10/20%. It's actually 50%, just in case the Descendants of Pitch do the impossible and reach them. Along with the Descendants of Ombric they consider themselves the last line of defence if Santoff Claussen is breached and they take that potential threat more seriously.

They usually have auburn hair and grey eyes, and are descended from Katherine's extended family.


	85. Notes on Half Immortals

There are two courses of action in the case of half immortals. Either the immortal parent claims and raises them, or it is left to the mortal parent. If the mortal parent dies there is no guarantee that the immortal parent will step in. It is entirely possible that both parents will raise the child, but it is almost unheard of. A possible third option is that the half immortal child is raised by the Descendants of their immortal parent, which is slightly more common than both parents raising the child.

If the immortal parent claims the child, then that child would live with them and be trained by them.

If the mortal parent raises them then the upbringing is similar to that of a Descendant, except the Descendants might not actually know until years later. If they are found by Descendants, then they are treated as such, but have higher expectations put on them. Same thing if neither parent steps in.

It is also possible for them not to join their Descendant group at all, and would be taught by a single Descendant to control their powers. This is traditionally seen by Descendants as an apprentice/master relationship, even if it isn't officially called that.

(**To clear up any confusion, here is something I sent to Puella Pulchra to clear something up)**

I would have said that being taught by a single Descendant would happen under certain circumstances. It can happen if the half immortal is being raised by the mortal parent or both parents and they don't like the idea of them living with Descendants (those that try to live in normal world as well are more appealing, but even then the half immortal might join them.)  
It won't happen if they are being raised by the immortal parent. If they are raised by Descendants it's a bit more iffy, a Descendant (usually the leader) would become a parental figure and would help teach them, but they would also be taught alongside Descendants their age.

**This was inspired by MysteriousSherlock's 'Friend or Foe' and PuellaPulchra's 'My Little Winter Sprite'**


	86. Notes on Metal

**Huh, I never posted this here.**

**This is just notes, and subject to being updated at any point.**

Steel is normally used for weapons that aren't made from powers because it's easier to forge. Effects Descendants the same way as anyone else.

Lead from the Earth's Core in theory was just for Descendants of Pitch, however when the Descendants of Bunnymund joined and lost the meteor weapon stash they found it easy to get to. After a while they found a way of making it so that it couldn't hurt them. EC lead is toxic to Descendants that are considered 'light' which is most of them, so makes an effective and painful weapon against the Human Order of Guardians. It has a similar effect on 'light' Descendants as Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold has on demigods as it sucks in their 'light'. However, if the weapon hits anything vital, no matter how lightly, the injury instantly becomes fatal. An attack that allows the metal into the body e.g. stabbing, will cause a temporary lose of powers to anyone who has them. For temperature based powers this can be deadly in itself.

Light enhanced lead is lead from the Earth's Core that has been exposed to constant natural light for a week. This makes it non toxic to 'light' Descendants and painful, but not toxic to 'dark' Descendants. Because of the process used to enhance it, HOG doesn't have much of it.

Meteor metal is difficult to come across, especially since the collection the Descendants of Bunnymund had disappeared off the face of the earth. It is pure white and toxic to 'dark' Descendants. At the moment there is only enough meteor metal for each Head to have one weapon, primarily for ceremonial purposes, but they can be used in combat. They're forged from meteor metal with a small pinch of stardust and then tempered in moonlight.  
HOG's supply of stardust is very small, so is used sparingly.

Meteor iron has been used historically by normal people, but the Descendants of Bunnymund found a way of not using the iron, instead using the properties of the meteor and their own powers to make the metal in weapons that can drive away the darkness. Only the Descendants of Bunnymund know the exact method of forging these weapons, much to the annoyance of the Descendants of North.

One of the reasons it's so difficult to get hold off is because buying meteorites is ridiculously expensive.

Descendant classification. (Ones that appear in the story)  
Light Descendants: Descendants of the Guardians, Descendants of Mother Nature.  
Dark Descendants: Descendants of Pitch, Descendants of Lupine, Descendants of Mortimer (Sadly, death should be neutral but it's often based on public perception)

To determine toxicity, the metal will be painful to the touch of the opposing Descendant and will cause incredible pain if injured with it. Any injury, even something like a paper cut, inflicted by the metal has the chance of becoming fatal, it depends on the severity of the wound how long that will be. The less severe the wound the longer it will take for metal's influence to essential poison the victim.

In victims with actual powers (Not including Descendants of Toothiana etc.) if the wound is severe they will notice a significant drain or even temporary loss of their powers, and in temperature based Descendants they will experience a temporary change in body temperature, leaving them close to hypo/hyperthermia.

Descendants can often sense whether a metal dangerous to them is in the vicinity, and will be struck with a desire to stay away from it at all costs.


	87. A Long Time Coming Part 1

A minor skirmish. Nothing to really worry about.

The Descendants of Pitch historically did this, tested the defences of a known HOG branch. You could almost call it a game by this point, both sides knew what the other was doing, it was only the bad blood of ancestors and previous events that drove them. Broken bones are usually the worst outcome, but if HOG didn't try to defend, then it might tempt the Descendants of Pitch to try something a bit more drastic.

It does us both good to be honest, keeps our techniques sharp, keeps us on our toes.

So I sat crouched on a rooftop, watching the streets intently while Taboo watched my back. The only way we even knew this was happening was because Billy had spotted a Nightmare the night before near Tanglewood, and caught the scent of about 5 Descendants. Nothing had happened last night, so we thought tonight would be the night.

I had already been here since the sun went down two hours ago, and I was stiff beyond belief. From here I could see the west of Burgess, and frost was down all across the North West part of the town, which was my section. It wouldn't catch a Fearling, but Descendants rarely used Fearlings, and the chances of Pitch showing up were astronomically low.

The clock struck ten and we gave our hourly reports to Nigel in sequence. Nothing had happened yet.

I let out an annoyed noise, but otherwise didn't move. Jamie was the only one not to report, as he was with the kids. Since he wasn't an official member of the Branch, when it came to deciding who had to stay behind at times like this, there was very little arguing.

_"I heard something."_ Taboo said.

_What?_

_"Nightmare, it's mine!"_

_Alright. _I responded with mild amusement and Taboo's enthusiasm.

I quickly looked at her behind me as she jumped off, landing on the tarmac with a click of her icy paws.

I didn't see what happened, having turned my gaze back to my original position, but I heard the start of an aggressive whinny, which was quickly silenced by a clack of frozen jaws and a muffled growl.

I reached for my ear piece to activate the microphone and said. "One Nightmare dispatched in the North West section."

_"Noted."_ Was Nigel's response. This wasn't anything too interesting, no need to get worked up.

There was a crashing noise that caught both mine and Taboo's attention. It was off to my right, and with Taboo still on the ground she went to investigate.

"_Something knocked over the bins."_ She said. _"Probably the Descendant in charge of the Nightmare._"

_Any scents?_

_"Yeah, of rubbish. Too strong to get anything else."_ Taboo's voice was filled with disgust, and I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose in sympathy.

_Get back up here the-_ My thought stopped abruptly as I sensed something on the frost a couple of streets away. I focused on it, the pattern of movement, vibrations and surface area impacted, all of this was streamed into my brain for me to identify, forming a mental image.

Footsteps, armoured footsteps, little taller than me, hard to tell anything else through the metal. Behind them trotted a Nightmare.

_This one's mine._

_"Go for it. I got the last one."_ Taboo yawned, having already gotten back to the roof just before I jumped off onto another roof.

I rolled across the asphalt roof out of habit, the armour taking the impact. I stood back up and shook my limbs to get the blood moving, metal armour clanking in places. I then took off into a run, putting my helmet on and doing a couple of arm stretches to warm up.

I quickly found them and I flattened myself against the roof to watch the pair walk through the street. Neither of them appeared to be monitoring their surroundings, just looking straight ahead.

My eyes narrowed behind my visor as I identified who it was. Paura, who I used to call Purple Hair until I found out her name seven years ago. Was it really seven years since Melbourne? I was starting to feel old.

Well, it would be seven years in a month, but that hardly made a difference.

She didn't looked my way as she walked past, striding with confidence as the Nightmare strutted behind her. It made me question why she wasn't riding it, just what was she doing?

Once she was out of sight I continued to follow her via the rooftops, using her footsteps to mask mine. This part of town was silent right now, as it was a residential section. Everyone here would be asleep if the Descendants of Pitch had done their work correctly. So if I contacted Nigel right now, there was a chance she would hear me in the dead silence.

Suddenly she stopped, and looked over at where I had been watching from earlier, where I had left Taboo. I couldn't see her face from here, but I ducked down behind a short rooftop wall as Paura moved her head around in a scanning motion.

_What's she doing?_

_"No idea."_ Taboo replied from her original position as well. _"Heard anything from the others?"_

_Nothing._

_"I'll watch her, you call. If she hears you-"_

_Run?_

_"That's one option I suppose."_

I stifled a chuckle before pulling back the visor far enough to get a hand underneath and tapped the earpiece. "Purple Hair and one Nightmare in North West area. No confrontation as of yet, just watching." I whispered. I wasn't sure if I'd ever mentioned Paura's actual name to HOG, it had seemed like an insignificant detail at the time.

I could hear Nigel wince on the other end, he knew about what had happened at Melbourne, but surprisingly I didn't feel all that bitter about it. If she wanted to hold a grudge, then go ahead, wasn't my problem.

_"Keep an eye on her I guess._" Nigel sent back, his language made it clear that this was up to me from here. _"Just, try not to provoke her."_

"I wasn't feeling particularly suicidal tonight." I muttered back, which got a chuckle out of him. "Jackie out."

From my 'ice' sense I could tell that Paura was walking again, so I stood up on the roof. From here I could see that she was in armour as well, only without a helmet, which allowed her tied up black hair to reflect back purple in the street lights. Her black armour was bit more fused together than mine, the single pieces barely having a seam to distinguish them while they were all worn together. Unlike mine, which had gaps around the joints and in some cases around the sides of the leg and arm guards and the breast and back plate. In some peoples they didn't quite join together, leaving only the leather straps to protect the gaps.

_I'm going to follow her._

_"You sure? What if someone else turns up?"_

_I'll come back if she heads into someone else's section. I want to see what she's doing._ Paura's behaviour puzzled me, she was so calm, not even trying to hide. Was she trying to attract attention? Because she'd certainly succeeded.

_"Fine. I can't stop you. Just try not to confront her, okay? You've got kids to think about."_

_I doubt it'll come to that._ I rolled my eyes. It was unlikely that she was going to go that far on what was a routine raid. _She won't even see me._

I could tell that Taboo wasn't convinced, and I realised I was probably being a bit too cocky here. I kept following her however.

I stayed low, ready to drop down if she looked up and behind. Most people didn't look up, but the Descendants of Pitch knew our tactics, they knew where we liked to hide. Unfortunately.

Paura made her way towards the edge of town, Nightmare trotting at her heels. I was starting to slow down as she got to the woods though. I had to watch the town, I could keep an eye on the woods, but going in them after her was just reckless. During raids, that's where the Descendants of Pitch liked to hide.

I came to stop and lay down on the roof of the house as best I could. It had a sloped roof, so there the risk of me sliding off. To avoid that, I iced my feet to it.

I kept watching her as she made her way towards the red, orange and yellow carpeted forest, then stopped right on the edge. The Nightmare also halted right on her heels.

I frowned at the pair. What was she doing now?

Paura flicked her hand and the Nightmare took off, rearing up and cantering towards the forest before getting into the air. Where it then turned around and headed straight for me, accelerating into a gallop.

I ducked my head down as the sandy hooves nearly clocked my helmet, merely scraping against it thankfully. I had to brush off trails of its sand off my armour and I got rid of the ice, sliding backwards down off the roof and landing on the ground.

I heard a whinny and looked up to see the damn thing still charging down at me. My blades formed and I held them out above me, waiting for the Nightmare to come to me.

It flew down into the gap between the two houses and I raised the blades even higher. It levelled off before it hit me and flew behind me. I turned to follow it before I sensed something behind me via the frost and honed instincts.

I dove forward, rolling towards the now landed Nightmare, which reared up to stamp down on my head as I rolled up to my knees.

The frost that I'd placed down hours ago now had a use as it acted as a quick medium to form spikes, which pierced the Nightmare from below. It let out a loud cry before dispersing into black sand.

Remembering that there was someone behind me I dove forward again, avoiding a spike of sand that might have pierced my armour. I didn't actually know if it would, but I'd prefer not to find out.

I was quickly back on my feet and flung myself around to Paura, because who was it going to be?

"Oh for moon's sake." I sighed, and Paura scowled, her expression not helped by the long diagonal scar on her left cheek, from the tip of the lip to the corner of her eye. "You still haven't let this go?"

Seven years ago I reacted with fear. Now, I guess I was just sick of this. Sick of the guilt, I still felt it, Hell, I still had nightmares, but I wasn't afraid of someone who still held a grudge over something that happened so long ago.

"What do you think?" she snarled back at me.

"I think you're answering a rhetorical question with a rhetorical question." I noted.

A spear of sand shot past me, only narrowing missing me as I ducked, the sand thudding into the house that closed off the alley. I didn't take my eyes off Paura as she lowered her arm, fist unclenching.

"Shut up."

I stood up straight and my hands instantly went for my hoodie pocket, which wasn't there, so I settled for putting them behind my back.

"Alright. I assume you just want to kill me anyway." There was a decent chance I could take her on my own, but at the same time, I wasn't sure I wanted to take that risk. However, as that thought crossed my mind, Paura smirked.

"What?" I asked.

"You're thinking you can call in for help. Your freak tiger thing and your Branch mates. Well..." The smirk grew wider into a unnerving grin as she began to count off her fingers. "I would say in 3...2...1..."

My earpiece seemed to explode with sound, with each Branch member giving a quick report.

_"Nightmares in the North East."_

_"Descendants in the South West and East."_

_"Nightmares and Descendants in Tanglewood, shit!"_

Nothing from Taboo, just a lot of snarling.

Something stirred in my gut as I twirled away from a sand spike from the ground, clutching my head. I rummaged frantically under my helmet to pull out the ear piece. They clearly hadn't had time to tap the microphones off, so I could hear everything.

I ripped it out and chucked it on the ground, where it skittered away into the shadows, muffled yells and shouts still coming from it.

I looked back up at Paura, to see her charging at me with a black metal sword swirling with shadows while drawing to draw in light from the nearby streetlamps. I backed off, belatedly recognising the feeling in my gut; the sword was made from lead from the Earth's core.

"Good." Paura was smirking again. "You're scared."

The sword slashed again and I heeded the instincts that were born from the lead's appearance.

I ran.

"COWARD!"

I heard Paura furiously roar at me as I went up on a pillar of ice and then skated off. I skated hard, arms pumping as I shot through Burgess, the buildings becoming a blur. I kept going as I felt the fear trickle away. The clamour of any fights seemed further away than they should be, replaced by loud breathing rattling in my helmet and my heartbeat pounding in my head.

_Well done idiot. _I chided myself._ You gave into fear, the one thing you're not supposed to do and have never done. And now you don't know where she is._

I made an irritated noise under my breath and slowed down before going up into the air above the town, so she couldn't take me by surprise from the shadows.

Once I was up high enough I ditched the ice path and formed my wings, becoming a smaller moving target.


	88. A Long Time Coming Part 2

**Darn, forgot to put this up last night...**

There weren't exactly many warm updrafts in mid autumn, but I managed to fly in a lazy manner over Burgess, trying to pinpoint Paura. This was made ever so slightly harder by the fact that large spots of Burgess were covered in shadow as the rest of my Branch was being attacked.

I wanted to help, I really did, but after the lead I now didn't know exactly how far Paura would go. I also couldn't see what was going on in those fights, no point dropping into a situation that I might make worse.

My eyes still followed the clouds of shadow. One where I left Taboo, one over in Tanglewood in distance, two where Sally and Tina were based, one where Nigel was...  
And a small one by my house.

I swallowed a curse and headed back towards my house, worry filling my gut. Paura was willing to break one law by trying to kill me, how many more was she willing to break?

I came into an iffy landing, stumbling a bit as I landed just inside the fence on the front yard. I still needed to work on that.

Inside the yard and around the side of the house I could see three Nightmares, with Paura standing in the middle of them.

"Called in the cavalry I see."

Paura made a half amused huffing noise. "For a cold hearted killer, you have odd weaknesses." She inclined her head towards the house to make it clear what it was she meant.

"And because of that, has it crossed your mind that I'm not a cold hearted killer?"

Two Nightmares peeled off and Paura vaulted onto the back of the one remaining. She drew her sword again, still keeping up the show of swirling shadows, as if the metal alone wasn't enough to freak me out.

"...That's a no." I sighed.

I used ice to propel myself up from a standing position and brought my wings down in a hard flap, shooting skywards as far and as fast as I could. Paura followed me on her Nightmare while the other two Nightmares tried to flank me.

I shot up higher, forming icicles around me and firing them out to take out the Nightmares. After years of fighting these things I knew all their weak spots. These two took a couple of hits to go down, then I tucked my wings in and rolled to avoid Paura charging out me.

However, I didn't move quickly enough to avoid her sword tip catching the top of my helmet with a clang.

I was flung backwards, spinning out of control. I didn't fight it, I formed an ice platform to catch me instead of trying to fly. Unfortunately I landed oddly, falling hard on my stomach, the armour took most of the impact, so I just lay there for about a second before moving again.  
With another flap I was back in the air in time to Paura miss her intended hit as her sword slammed into the ice.

As she pulled it free I retreated and took stock. The best way to get Paura back on the ground was to get rid of the Nightmare, not hard. However from this height Paura could break something or die, so that wasn't an option. Therefore, lure the two of them to a lower altitude.

The woods now were almost ideal. It got her away from the town, just in case, and as this was a revenge plot, the chances of back-up were low. Paura would want to do this herself.

"You know, if you want to kill me." I called out to the other Descendant, hoping that I hadn't just woken up the kids. "You're going to have to do a better job at catching me." I caught her furious look as I grinned in a purposely annoying manner and dropped.

I opened up my wings once I got below the top floor of the house and headed towards the woods. I knew my way around in there and I was willing to bet that she was too angry to have much of a strategy beyond, well, killing me. She was making this up as much as I was.

I heard her yell in frustration as I disappeared into the trees, and that was then followed by a few crashing noises as she followed me.

I shot between the trees before taking a sharp turn, shooting right before turning another 90 degrees to the right, facing back the way I came. I flew forward a few feet from momentum before stopping. I could see Paura pull back hard on the sandy reins though the trees, halting the Nightmare as she turned to where she thought I would be if I had continued moving further, not seeming to realise that I hadn't moved.

I formed a platform just below my feet and folded my wings against my back as I landed. I skated up behind her before she realised I was there and sent an icicle clean though the Nightmare, starting where it's tail was and bursting out of its chest.

Paura shrieked as her mount disappeared from underneath her and fell to the ground, landing hard from the sound of it. I had continued skating to her other side, ducking behind a tree and standing on one of the larger branches.

Through I could now see her get to her feet, leaves stuck in her hair and her face twisted in an expression of absolute fury.

She did a quick 360 and didn't seem to find me, as she started yelling.

"Where are you? You coward! Show yourself!" She screamed into the forest, and I was willing to take her up on that. However, I caught a hitch in her breathing that made me pause.

I peered through the fire coloured leaves to see that her Sun deprived face did indeed look a little red around the eyes. Although I was too far away to be sure.

"...Why?" I thought I heard her say, but I wasn't too sure.

"Why?" She repeated. "It's not as if they tried to kill you."

_Yeah,_ I _didn't know that._

My ears pricked up as she started reciting names, like it was a list that had been burnt into her brain.

"Elliot, Jasmine, Shep, Richard, Claire...*

She seemed to choke on the last name. "Tetro"

"Why did it have to be him?!" she suddenly screamed, making me jump, but she wasn't facing me. "He was just there! He didn't go for any of you! Not like me!"

She took a moment to recover herself.

"He was my brother, and you killed him."

My eyes widened and my legs nearly gave way beneath me, so I grabbed hold of a branch above me to keep me from giving away my position.

I had thought this was simple case of revenge, or avenging fellow Descendants. Turns out no, this was far more personal, this Tetro, had been her brother.

Oh moon, I knew what that felt like.

Despite what common sense was telling me, I dropped out of the tree, not bothering to mask it. I walked out from behind the trunk, which had a similar girth to North, with my hands up as Paura spun to face me.

Her distressed face rapidly morphed back to a mask of fury, but I'd already heard. She couldn't fool me.

She hadn't lost her grip on her sword, so charged right at me with a yell. I skipped to the side, hands now behind my back. I kept this position as she kept trying to hit me, again and again as I danced on the crackling leaves. I wasn't actually sure if that sword could pierce HOG armour, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to find out.

To make sure, I formed a layer of ice on my gauntlet, before shooting my hand out and grabbing the sword blade, halting it in its tracks.

Paura didn't bother to pull her sword away, instead I was thrown backwards by a blast of sand.

I lost my grip on the blade and flew back several metres, not hitting any trees and instead coming to unwelcome meeting with the ground. I rolled for a few more metres in a flurry of red and gold before coming to a stop and jumping back up again.

I formed a staff of ice to block the incoming strike from the sword. I then went for a disarm, which she spun out of and backed off, holding the sword in a one handed grip by her side for a second. She then switched back to a double handed grip and held it upright over her head, yelling and charging with reckless abandon.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as we began again, only to have them widen as the shadows that had been curling around the blade condensed and lengthened the sword, suddenly making it a lot harder to avoid.

I didn't bother with evasion, instead in something of a panic I flung my arms up, pulling up a shield.

The shadow extension stayed solid, bending across it. Suddenly the sword fell to ground, the shadows dispersing.

I turned around in time to block Paura popping up behind me from my own shadow, dagger aimed for a gap between where the helmet and the shoulder pads failed to meet. Reacting on instinct I twisted the dagger out of her grip and went forward with an elbow strike to the nose.

Paura screamed and staggered back, clutching her nose as she staggered back, red flecking her own black gauntlets.

Remembering that I was supposed to be trying to sympathetic, I backed off, allowing Paura to retreat and disappear into the shadows.

I let the shield disperse back into airborne water vapour before stepping over to the sword, planting my boot on its hilt. I wasn't going to get any closer than that.

"Okay, my turn to talk to an 'empty' forest." I said, with a slight smirk. I even pulled my visor up so my voice could carry further. "Because you're not going to leave this behind."

I took a deep breath. "Okay... I'm sorry." I started. "I didn't know, I didn't know exactly why..." Words seemed to be failing me.

Another deep breath. "I never wanted to kill them, okay? I was a kid, I was scared, I was, I was angry admittedly. You know, fear leads to anger and all that. I, I also didn't realise one of them was your brother, it makes sense now."

I wasn't sure what else to say, words and phrases just clogged in my throat and refused to come up. So I finished with a weak, "I'm sorry."

I only saw a blotch of black out of the corner of my eye a split second before I was struck with what was probably a mix of sand and shadow. I got flung back, accompanied by a wordless scream of rage that came from Paura.

Once I hit the ground again I went to get back up, except the sand shadow mix hadn't let go, and instead tightened around my waist and flung me up into the air with a cry of shock as I sailed towards the canopy. Before I could get my sudden flight under control I was pulled harshly back down to earth.

I cried out as I clanged and clunked upon the ground and rustling leaves. Once again, the armour took most of the impact, so nothing was broken, but I could feel where bruises were going to pop up and I was a little dazed. Something oddly warm trickled sluggishly down the side of my forehead and I elected to ignore it for now, the blood would freeze on its own and scalp wounds usually looked worse than they were.

I started to push myself up when there was another blur of black and kick to my ribs, flipping me on my back. Now I could see the expression on Paura's face as streams of blood ran from her nose, dripping on both her armour and mine. It was a mix of furious, distraught and...confused?

"You're not supposed to be sorry!" she yelled, sword back in her hand, no longer wreathed in shadows and pointed at my throat as I lay there. The sand shadow mix she was controlling wrapped around my wrists, ankles and stomach, holding in place as she got ready for the kill. The tip was hovering above the major weak spot in HOG armour, where the helmet didn't quite meet the breastplate in order for the straps holding the helmet in place to be accessed.

Despite the situation, I really couldn't resist. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that!" the tip lowered dangerously, and my gut was screaming me to get out of there, but freezing a shadow is a bit beyond me.

"You're not supposed to be repenting, you're supposed to be... supposed to be..." Paura trailed off.

"Twirling my handlebar moustache and laughing manically?" I offered. "Mwhaha, I'm so evil! Watch me kick this puppy for no reason!"

I don't know what response I was expecting, but a snort of laughter was not it.

"That does sound really stupid when you say it outloud." She admitted, although that sword hadn't moved an inch.

I had to chuckle a bit as well. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it? And, I meant it, I'm sorry."

"Stop it." She growled. "I know evil's probably a bit much, but I still hate you for what you did."  
I'd lost my patience. "Yeah, well you're not the only one!"

I glared right into her eyes for a second before relaxing my expression. "You seriously think I don't regret doing that? I see them every night when I go to sleep. Every night they're asking me 'why, why did we die? Why did you kill us?' and you know what? I don't have an answer for that."

The tip of the sword quivered.

"From what I understand, the whole point of that little event was to try and get a reaction out of possibly less disciplined Descendants of Jack Frost, an attack. A death." I added pointedly. "You set out with that plan and attacked someone who your leader had been told had unstable powers and emotional state. Yet you did it anyway. What exactly were you expecting to happen?"

Paura tightened her grip on the sword. "It wasn't Tetro's fault." She hissed.

"You're right, it wasn't. I doubt any them deserved that, and, I am sorry. He was your brother, I get it, I really do. I can't say this enough times. I'm sorry."

The tip quivered again, and for a moment I thought Paura was going to pull it away. However, that moment passed and she pushed the sword down, the tip now resting on my throat.

My fists clenched and frost gripped the surrounding forest debris while I gritted my teeth. The burning sensation coming off from that contact alone was almost unbearable. I didn't want to know how much it would hurt if it actually pierced the skin.

I kept looking at Paura though, and I thought I swore her resolve waver.

"It's hard to kill someone." I managed to say without crying out. "Especially in cold blood I would think. Not that I know. It leaves a mark though, a stain on the soul. It won't leave you."

Paura alternated between loosening her grip on the sword and gripping it tighter. What I was about to say next might just tip her.

"Doing this won't bring Tetro back."

Paura's face twisted in anger, her eyes became wild and I felt my gut clench as I feared that I had said the wrong thing. Paura lifted her sword up a bit to drive it in, and I wasn't sure if I saw Mortimer's reflection in the blade or not.

The blade hovered there, Paura's breathing becoming quicker as she raised it a little more. Blood continued to drip from her nose, and I saw her eyes following the crimson droplets onto the black metal blade and the pale blue metal of my armour.

Then she relaxed, and dropped the blade, letting it clatter to the ground.

Her whole body slumped, and I could feel the sand and shadows holding me in place retreating.

"Darkness damn you."

I let out a breath that I hadn't realised I'd been holding and sat up, subconsciously rubbing where the tip had been placed and finally noticing the pain. Paura was facing away from me, picking up her sword and sheathing it.

"You're bleeding." She said in monotone. "You should get that checked."

I felt where I had felt the blood before with the tip of my metal covered finger. It had frozen by now.

"Thanks." I started to say, looking up, but Paura had gone.


	89. A Long Time Coming Part 3

**Some swearing coming up, including a couple of f bombs.**

That cut ended up needing a couple of stitches, but overall wasn't serious. The other attacking Descendants of Pitch had disappeared not long after Paura had. I had to quickly retrieve my ear piece to avoid mentioning Paura and spun a story at being a bit too pre-occupied to report back on the radio. When asked about the blood I said I punched someone in the face and they bled on me. The best lie is a half truth after all.

Life got back to normal, busy as hell. HOG, bookshop, my own training, and being a mother. It was a miracle I had time to eat and sleep, as always.

Even better, I got the impression the whole week after the incident with Paura that I was being watched whenever I wasn't in the HOG base or the meeting place.

I wasn't the only one, Taboo would randomly growl at shadows, and when I asked her, the response was always the same.

_"They've gone."_ She'd sigh.

Finally, I was at the lake when I'd decided I'd had enough.

"Why are you stalking me?" I asked point blank, while sitting with my legs crossed in the middle of frozen lake.

"I'm deciding whether to stab you in the back or not."

"From that tone, I don't know whether to take you seriously or not." I said, with a half smirk.

"Well, I've had enough opportunities to kill you." Paura stepped out of the shadows on the side of the lake I was facing, but didn't step onto the lake itself. "At this point it's out of my system."

"That's good. I quite like being alive." I responded. "So, now what?"

Paura shrugged. "I'm not sure. I hadn't realised how much time obsessing over revenge takes up."

"Any new hobbies in mind? Unless you want to take up murder?"

"Like I would tell you!" Paura laughed, a surprisingly non evil laugh. "You're a Head, you could have me exiled for that!" Paura tilted her head to one side, laughter fading from her face. "I'm surprised you haven't already."

"I lied on the official report." I admitted. "I didn't think exile would do you any good."

"That's the point isn't it?"

I put my hands in my hoodie pocket. "If you were exiled that would have left you free to come after me again, with no consequences unless you were found. And if I was the one who got you exiled then you would have even more of a reason to hate me."

Paura shrugged. "Can't argue with that. I'll also not mention the lying to anyone."

"Thanks, although you're more likely to get in more trouble from it than me."

"Yeah, although I don't know if anyone back home would mind if you died."

"The only Descendant of Pitch who would is already dead."

"Oh yeah, her. Weird one she was." Paura suddenly paused, and sighed. "Um, I'm... I'm sorry that I used her to try and kill you, back in Melbourne. I can understand that freakout."

I groaned, running a hand over my face and under glasses. "I really didn't want to remember that."

"You looked utterly psycho!" Paura laughed.

"Please don't." It was another subject of my nightmares.

"Sorry, jeez. Didn't think you'd be so touchy. I should be the one touchy about that, that was an embarrassing defeat."

I looked up again and Paura was looking down at the ground, which was still carpeted with leaves.

"...Yeah, she was a bit odd." I agreed, ignoring Melbourne for now. "Comes with the territory."

"Don't know why she liked you so much." Paura scoffed. "I bet you didn't know anything about her."

"She didn't like to talk about it." I shrugged.

"Don't blame her. It's not a nice story. Maybe I'll tell you. Maybe I won't."

"Do you have to be so mysterious?"

"I've got to get my kicks somehow with you. Now that I no longer plan on killing you."

I chuckled morbidly, then tapped my knee with my fingers as I thought about something that had been bothering me.

"In that list of yours, you didn't mention Samuel." I stated. "I can understand not mentioning Pete, he was a Descendant of Lupine, but wasn't Samuel your leader?"

Paura snorted. "Samuel was a dick. An unstable dick. How he got to control the North America sector is beyond me. It was his plan that got Tetro killed, and his decision to do the ambush in Pitch's lair, and we all know how that went. So, no I didn't mind too much when he died."

She looked right at me. "I figured it was something to do with you for years. The ice gave it away, but unless you'd gone full Hannibal Lector, you didn't kill them. It was only when I found about that tiger did it click."

"I'm surprised you know who Hannibal Lector is." I said. "I thought you guys didn't interact with normal humans?"

"Believe it or not, we have an internet connection. How else do we find out about creepy pastas?"

"...What now?"

"Slenderman? Jeff the Killer? Ben Drowned? These are classics!"

"I know the first one." I admitted.

Paura laughed again. "Wow, the person who actually lives in the world with the rest of humanity, and _I'm_ the one who knows what a creepy pasta is?"

"You think I care?"

"You probably don't do you? Too busy, being married with kids."

"Why do bring that up?" I asked suspiciously. "Not worrying about that yourself?"

"Working on it. I'm a little jealous to be honest."

"Well, that's your new hobby. Get a guy or girl."

Paura chuckled. "I guess that could work, the Frica line commands respect. Even if one is dead, the other one was obsessed with revenge for 15 odd years, and we have a reputation for being a bit pretentious."

"Well, that's not my problem."

"No, it isn't."

We fell into silence, then Paura pushed herself off the tree she was leaning on and started pacing, still not going within touching distance of the lake.

"Look, here's the thing. You're a Descendant of a Guardian, I'm a Descendant of Pitch. You and me, we're enemies. I've wanted you dead for over a decade and I doubt you've been that fond of me. And here we are, having lovely chat about nothing!"

I nodded. "I think we can both agree that there's too much history for us to become friends. I'd be constantly watching my back for one thing."

Paura scowled back at me, clearly no longer in the mood for jokes.

"How much clearer can I make it? We're on opposite sides, and I know you've pissed off Pitch before, so I won't be surprised if he decides he doesn't want you sticking your nose in and gets us to do the dirty work."

"You don't have to get involved with that."

"I can't tell everyone that I bottled out!" she cried. "If the option comes up to kill you, I'm going to be the first person they turn to!"

"Okay, okay. We can't be friends, but we don't have to enemies."

"Why are you so chummy? I tried to kill you!"

"I suppose breaking your nose isn't quite appropriate, but you'd be amazed how quickly I can sweep something like that under the rug." I said with a nonchalant shrug.

Paura shook her head in disbelief. "You're mad."

"Thank you Captain Obvious."

"Darkness, you're not even denying it! What is wrong with you?"

"Mostly PTSD and sleep deprivation."

Paura shook her head in disbelief. "Insane, absolutely fucking insane."

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"You don't swear?"

"I have 3 infant kids, one of whom is starting to talk."

"Alright, alright. So, to get your train of thought, you know that we can't really be friends, and you don't want to be enemies. So, I'll humour you, what do you suggest?"

"A form of light hearted rivalry?"

"What?"

"That's what we do anyway? Come on, those raids are really just training exercises for both sides, not actual raids." I reasoned. "Might liven them up a bit, instead of standing on a roof or patrolling an empty town for hours until dawn."

Paura sighed. "Alright, having a contact in HOG might be useful."

"And same for me." I said standing up. "So, deal? No more trying to kill each other?"

"And settling for rivals? Fine, if it'll get you to shut up." Paura held out her to shake. I tilted my head to one side, then went over to shake on it.

Paura let go pretty quickly. "Alright, now that, _this_, has happened, I'm off. See you around you crazy fucker."

"Language!" I said as she turned around with one hand raised in farewell.

"You're not my mother." Paura replied, sounding somewhat amused before disappearing into the shadows.

**Something like this has mentally been in the works for a while, I've been wanting to redeem and develop Paura's character a bit more for ages, but was hoping to do it as part of a larger story. In the end, it got it's own 3 part series. I somehow doubt anyone's complaining, I know I'm not.**


	90. What Might Have Been Part 1

**Something of an AU. The idea is this is what would have happened if the Descendants of Jack Frost hadn't been left to their own devices when they first started showing up. That the other Descendants actually took responsibility, found them, taught them about their world and helped them set up a base of their own.**

The four Heads appeared from a Tunnel, each one garbed in a cloak. It had been a week since Jack Frost had become a Guardian, and since there had been no other attacks since, they had decided to alert the Descendants of Jack Frost.

Where they were now was a snowbound fjord, far out of the way of civilisation. The Descendants of Frost were among those who chose to live outside of society, so taking on a double life would be, interesting for them. Especially since most of them likely have lived outside of here since they were little.

"It's freezing!" cried Alexander, wrapping the dark green cloak around him, despite his thick clothes.

"We all knew it was going to be cold." reminded Samson. "Let's start walking before we freeze."

In the distance they could a swirling snow storm, and even though none of them would admit it, they were more than a little daunted at having to walk through that.

Nevertheless, they kept walking.

As they approached the snowstorm, the snowflakes parted and the wind dropped around them. The four Heads stopped in surprise. Less than a metre from them in all directions was a howling storm, but in a small bubble surrounding them, everything was calm.

"They're expecting us." said Jason with approval.

"Tsar Lunar must have told them." said Alexander with a shrug.

"Or they are friendly." offered Samson.

"They haven't had visitors in 250 years." said Claire. "And most of us haven't exactly been welcoming. I think they're giving us the benefit of the doubt."

The group continued walking across the fjord, and slowly what looked like a castle made of ice came into view.

They came closer and saw two people standing in front of the large double doors, either to welcome them or on guard duty. They were in their mid teens and identical, looking surprisingly like Jack Frost, except with brown eyes and hair, with a more sloped nose and higher, more arched eyebrows.

And, as the Heads approached, they could hear arguing.

"Can't believe we got door duty _again._" complained the one of the right.

"Well, if you hadn't flooded the kitchen..."said the one on the left, who had a small birthmark over his right eye.

"It was an accident!"

"Sure it was." The one of the left rolled his eyes, but they were both grinning, like they'd had this kind of argument hundreds of times.

"What about the dorms? I heard what happened there." The grin from the boy on the right seemed to grow, matched by the one on the left.

"Oh, their faces!" They started laughing until they noticed the four Heads. They stopped and stared at them like aliens had just landed.

"Who are they?" asked Left in a whisper, which Alexander picked up.

"Dunno." said Right, also in a whisper. "Go get Alfred."

"You go get him!"

"You go!"

"No, you!"

Claire coughed and the two turned from their small argument to face her. "If one of you gentleman would please tell Eye O'Donnell that the Heads from the Human Order of Guardians are here, then we would be very grateful."

Once she mentioned where they were from, the twins stared at them with expressions of disbelief, and a little anger. They looked at each other, nodded and the one on the left knocked on the wall.

A small opening appeared at head height, and the four Heads could see a pair of dark eyes framed with a pair of glasses peering out.

"Password?"

"Jackie, not now." groaned Right.

"Incorrect." Jackie closed the opening and Left knocked again, more insistently.

"Who dares disturb-" Jackie never got to finish her joke, as both twins yelled in unison.

"GET ALFRED!"

Jackie blinked, then looked at the four Heads, noticing them for the first time.

"...Right."

The opening closed again and you could hear the sound of someone sprinting.

The four Heads waited patiently until the door opened again, revealing a girl about thirteen or fourteen in a t shirt and shorts. She had dark brown hair that hung loose and straight down her back and dark eyes with bright blue rectangular glasses perched on her nose.

"Alfred's in his office, can I show you up?" she asked with a clear East American accent.

"Yes, if that's alright." replied Jason, and Jackie nodded. The four Heads stepped past the twins on door duty and into the entrance hall.

Naturally it was made entirely of ice, although there were a few rugs and tapestries to break up the white and blue monotony.

The four Heads instantly had some trouble on the ice, and Jackie failed to hide an amused grin as they slipped around.

"Alfred's office is upstairs." she said, gesturing to a wide set of stairs in the centre of the hall. Take your time to get up there." she added, walking up the icy steps with practised ease. Claire took to the air and Samson decided to be nice to the other two Heads and lifted them up on a cloud of Dreamsand.

At the top of the stairs Jackie stood with her hands behind her back and her head tilted to the side as she watched them. She was curious, and a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to watch them slip around on the ice. It was such a rare sight around here.

When they got to the top she continued to lead them to a door that was inscribed with an eight sided snowflake, and she knocked on it.

"Come in!" called a voice that sounded like it belonged to an old man, and it was thickly Scottish.

Jackie pushed open the door and the Heads walked in. An old man with wild white hair and warm brown eyes was waiting for them. It was difficult to place his age, as he moved with the vigour of someone Jackie's age.

At the back of the room was a desk covered in various papers with pale blue files piled on top of it. There were also various chairs arranged in a circle, each one with a cushion on it and a rug lay on the floor. All of the furniture was made of solid ice, just like everything else.

"Welcome." said the man, presumably Alfred. "Jackie, yer good ta go now."

"See you later!" she said, smiling before shutting the door and disappearing to who knew where.

"Take a seat. Can't have ye standin' around like a bunch 'o lemons." Alfred invited and the Heads obliged, trying not to gasp at the cold of the ice. Alfred also took a seat, facing all of them, somewhat expectedly. Naturally the cold didn't seem to bother him.

"So, what to te Heads from the Order want with us?" He asked, his tone serious.

Jason was the first to respond, leaning forward in his chair. "Eye O'Donnell, are you aware of the events that happened involving the Guardians recently?"

"Aye, I've heard things." a knowing look appeared in Alfred's eyes. "Ah, Jack Frost has joined the Guardians, and so ye want us ta join ya."

"That sums it up." said Alexander, shrugging.

"Well, forgive me for being a bit wary. We historically don't have a good relation."

"It is true." admitted Jason, "but we're willing to look past it. So, will you and your kin join the Human Order of Guardians?"

Alfred leaned back on his chair. "I'll think about it."

Jason opened his mouth to protest, but Alfred shot him down. "It's ta best yer gonna get fer now. I'll get a message to ya when I've got an answer."

The four Heads looked at each and Jason sighed. "Alright, that's all we have to say. We'll await your answer."

"I'll see ye out." Alfred levered himself out of his seat, his cloak fluttering slightly as he walked to the door.


	91. What Might Have Been Part 2

Once the Heads were out Alfred let out a sigh which echoed throughout the entrance hall. This just made things more complicated, they were asking the people who lived here to go back to a normal society, and some of them couldn't do that. He rubbed his brow, he would just have to work something out with them.

He heard someone clattering down the stairs and opened his eyes to see Jackie running down with a suitcase, followed by Stephen.

Oh yeah, Jackie was going home to Burgess for a couple of weeks, the very place where Battle of Belief took place. Maybe...

"Lass, got a minute?"

She skidded to a halt and smiled at him, with Stephen stopping just behind her. Alfred couldn't help but feel a bit like a proud grandfather whenever he saw her. Whether she knew it or not, he was grooming her to be his successor (although he wouldn't put it past her shrewd, if somewhat naive, brain). She was currently the most powerful Descendant in the castle and if she would calm down on the pranks a bit and started to take things more seriously, he had no doubt she could become a great leader.

"Yeah?" she asked and Alfred continued.

"While yer home, reckon ya could ask around 'bout what happened at Easter. And..." Alfred paused, wondering whether or not this was a good idea. "If ye see Jack Frost at all, try talkin' ta him. Ask 'im about whether or not 'e's a Guardian."

Jackie's eyes widened at this prospect. She'd seen her ancestor from a distance when she was home for the winter months, but because of how being a Descendant worked, she had never approached him. Now she was being told that not only she could, but should!

"Will do!" she said, not wanting to pass up this unique opportunity.

"Good lass. Stephen ye takin' her ta Burgess?"

"Yes." the blind Descendant nodded. "We've got a good wind that should get us across most of the Atlantic."

Alfred nodded. "Good. See ya in a fortnight lass, and don't get inta too much trouble, ya hear?"

Jackie grinned. "I'll try, but no promises!" Alfred sighed, at least she was honest.

"Alright, now off wit ya! I've got work ta do!" he said, smiling and making shooing motions with his hands. He was off before Jackie could ask what the Heads had wanted.

* * *

Jackie landed on the outskirts of Burgess with Stephen, suitcase in hand and looking very windswept. She staggered a little as she landed, suddenly no longer able to sense her surroundings as well with less snow around. Waiting for her were her parents and little brother, Daniel.

"Jackie!" he cried, and her eleven year old brother charged forward, wrapping his arms around his big sister as Stephen greeted her parents.

"Hey Danny!" she said with equal enthusiasm, as always taken slightly aback by the warmth of his body. However, she knew better than to mention it.

"How's it been without me?" she asked as they pulled out and Danny pouted.

"Really boring." Danny complained with a whine. "No one's as fun as you."

"Well, we've two weeks together." said Jackie and the two smirked conspiringly, two weeks of pranks, snowball fights and general messing around awaited.

"Danny has school work." reminded their mom, and the sibling's smiles dropped slightly.

"I'll help you with that." Jackie nudged Danny. At the ice fort anyone under eighteen was given as good of an education that was possible in such an isolated place, and it worked pretty well.

"Thanks Jackie."

The group, along with Stephen who was tired after the long trip, walked down into Burgess. They could have driven back to their house, but they knew Jackie would want to re-familiarise herself with the town.

"Too bad I missed Easter." said Jackie, looking around at the banner advertising the Burgess egg hunt.

"It wasn't that great." sighed Danny. "There weren't any eggs."

"Really?" Jackie had heard odd rumours about what happened, but any news that reached their home in Norway wasn't always shared.

"Yeah, makes me wonder if the Easter Bunny, you know, actually exists."

"Of course he does." Jackie instantly, looking down at her brother. "Real and a little full of himself from what I've heard." she added with a smirk.

Danny laughed. "Come on! You didn't think I'd stopped believing did you?"

"I did wonder. I hear belief dropped to an all time low over the Easter weekend."

"Yeah, it did." Danny admitted. "I tried, I really did, but, everyone else had stopped."

"Well, it's back now." Jackie said with a smile. It faltered slightly as she remembered what Alfred had asked her to do, but it was quickly back in place. She started to look around again at Burgess, looking at what had changed since she'd last been up at Christmas.

"Oooh, Bookmark's open!" she cried, looking over at her favourite bookshop. Part of her excitement was that the shop would close at seemingly random points, for even more random periods of time.

"You'll have plenty of time to go in later." chuckled her mom. "Right now, I think you and Stephen need some food."

"If that's not a problem." said Stephen, who did sound pretty tired.

"Of course not."

"We've got enough food for an army, Jackie eats like one." said her dad.

"I do not!" Jackie protested, but started laughing at the overly upset look on her dad's face.

* * *

After eating and Stephen had left, Danny and Jackie went out into Burgess to go look around their favourite haunts and show off what was new.

Bookmark was always Jackie's favourite, so that's where they went first. Jackie had always had a sneaking suspicion that the two owners, Sally and Tina, were Descendants, and the feeling was probably mutual, but neither side had worked out who they were Descendants of, or even if they were right. So, they tended to ignore that fact.

Once Jackie had bored Danny silly looking at books, the two headed back out. Not too far away from them was the park, where a group of kids where having a snowball fight. Jackie vaguely recognised some of them, but most of them were a little younger than Danny, so they didn't know them.

Jackie then did a double take, as _Jack Frost_ was in the snowball fight. She cleaned off her glasses and squinted to make extra sure. White hair, blue hoodie, brown threadbare pants, G shaped staff, yep, that was him. He was laughing and playing with the kids, and they _could see him_.

"Jackie? You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Danny asked, concerned as Jackie stared at Jamie Bennett and his friends, not quite comprehending what she was seeing.

"Do you see anyone, odd, there?"

"Odder than Jamie Bennett?" Danny smirked, but then shook his head. "Nah, Jamie, Monty, Cupcake, Pippa, Claude and Caleb. That's all I see. Why? Can you see an immortal?" Danny was suddenly very excited. "Oh! You can, can't you? Who is it? Someone I know?"

"I'll, um, tell you later."

"Jackie!" Danny whined. "Come on!"

"He might hear us, and I don't want trouble. Come on."

"You're lying." Danny said in a sing song voice. "You're scared, aren't you?"

"I am not scared." Jackie insisted, feeling a grin form on her face anyway as the two walked away.

"Prove it. Go up and say hi."

"I can't." she was allowed now, but old habits die hard.

"Alright, scaredy cat." Danny walked backwards away from her, hands behind his head.

"I am not!" Jackie moved towards him, only for Danny to laugh and start running from here.

"Get back here!" she called, giving chase.

"You're going to have to catch me first!" Danny called back, laughing.

"I've got longer legs than you!"

"I'm fitter than you!"

The two siblings raced off into Burgess, oblivious to the slightly wistful look that Jack Frost had sent their way, before getting hit by a snowball and throwing himself back into the match, forgetting the two.

**So, yes, in this AU, Danny is alive. Descendants usually get picked up around 5 years old, Danny died when Jackie was 7, the maths isn't exactly hard.**

**Danny has always been Jackie's biggest plot point and motivation. His death in the normal story sent her on the path to being a emotionally incompetent loner, who then grows to be a confident/arrogant adult with something of a hero complex and a nagging fear that she needs to always prove that she's worth having around.**

**With Danny alive, she'll still be over confident perhaps, but she actually had normal childhood social development, so will grow up to be less messed up. On the other hand Taboo isn't likely to exist in this universe, I haven't actually thought that far ahead to be honest.**


	92. What Might Have Been Part 3

Jackie was heading to the lake to practice, alone this time to get herself acquainted again, when she saw someone fly overhead.

She paused and looked up, glimpsing Jack Frost leaping from chimney to power line with carefree abandon.

In that moment Jackie forgot what she was originally doing and recalled what Alfred had asked of her. So she followed him.

She knew there was no way she could get up on the rooftops to follow him, so tried as best she could from the streets. Not that that was easy, she was more interested in reading than exercise, so was not fit in the slightest.

After a few minutes of panting and wheezing her way through Burgess, she lost sight of the immortal. She groaned and stumbled to a halt, doubling over and gasping for air.

"I...need...to get...in...shape." she gasped out to herself.

"I'll say, you got, what, 200 metres?"

Jackie yelped and spun around to see Jack Frost standing behind her, leaning on his staff. He frowned at her reaction.

"You... You can hear me?"

Jackie nodded and stood up straight, only to bow once she'd got some air. Jack took a surprised step back.

"Whoa, what's that for?"

Jackie looked up, then stood up straight. She fumbled for words, but none came to her that didn't sound really awkward. Finally, she got something out.

"You, you know Descendants, right?"

Jack just looked even more confused. "Descendants? Nope, no idea what you're talking about."

_Oh boy. Can I just out and out ask him?_

"Erm, a-are you definitely a Guardian now? Just making sure."

"Yes. Why are you asking? Who are you?" Jack caught himself. "Well, I know who you are, you're the Davies kid who goes to boarding school or something, but _who _are you? How come you can see me?"

"I'm Jackie, Davies, and well, um. Can we not explain here? Too open." Jackie explained, calling upon her usual nerve when she was pulling a prank. "I was heading towards the lake, that should be private enough."

"Okay." Jack had to admit, his curiosity was peaked. "See you there then!" he took to the air and Jackie was left alone on the street. Her breath now caught, she power walked towards the lake.

"You took your time." Jack noted as Jackie finally made it.

"I'm not fit." Jackie stated, panting slightly.

"So, you going to answer my questions?" Jack asked, now sitting in a tree, one leg dangling down.

"Yeah." Jackie ran at the tree and grabbed a branch to pull herself up. After a minute or two or struggling, Jack hooked his staff around her middle and hoiked her up onto a branch nearby.

"Uh, thanks." Jackie said, surprised as she got comfortable.

"You were going to take all night." Jack smirked as he leaned back. "So...?"

Jackie took a deep breath and explained Descendants as quickly and concisely as she could, barely giving Jack any time to respond.

By the time she was finished Jack looked like he didn't know what to think.

"You, you're related to me? And have the same powers?"

"Yes, and similar. I can't do anything with air." To demonstrate she formed a few snowflakes.

"And, the other Guardians-?"

"Have Descendants too. We don't talk much. They came the other day, although I don't know why. Alfred didn't tell me."

"So, that's why you wanted to know if I was a Guardian?"

"Yeah, we hear things, but I think Alfred wanted to make sure." Jackie shrugged.

"Who's this Alfred?"

"The Eye. Um, the leader of the Descendants of Jack Frost, your, Descendants." Both ice users felt equally awkward about that sentence. "He's called the Eye. Like eye of the storm? Eye O'Donnell."

"What's he like then?"

"Really nice. He talks to everyone and always has time for everyone. We're all like a big family really. It's great." Jackie was more relaxed now, leaning back against the trunk and swinging her legs with a warm smile on her face.

"Sounds good."

"It is." Jackie nodded. She remembered that she still had to practice, but didn't feel comfortable doing it in front of Jack Frost of all people. He was bound to be so much better than her.

"Anyway, I'd better go back." Jackie dropped down out of the tree.

"Wait, I've still got one more question." Jack stood crouched in the tree. "What was with the bowing?"

"Er, usually when a Descendant meets an immortal, we have to act really formal. I've never done it before, so I don't know if I overdid it."

"Well, I don't know about other immortals, but you don't have to do that with me. That's just weird."

"Oh, okay."

"Anyway. Now I know you're here, I hope I can have a snowball fight with you. I bet you're good." Jack smirked, and Jackie smirked right back.

"Snowball Terror five years running." she boasted, hands in shorts pockets.

"Terror huh? You better live up to that."

"You might regret that." Jackie smirked. "See you, I guess."

"See you Jackie."

* * *

Next day, Jackie travelled deep into the woods in Burgess, trying to find a specific stump. After several hours of wandering, she found a stump, that didn't look much different from any other stump in the forest. The only difference was the pattern of the bark, which formed an Atlantian symbol, which one Jackie wasn't sure, but it looked like a crooked 'd'.

In her hand she clutched a folded piece of paper with Alfred's name on it. As she approached the stump she shivered as she felt waves of magic wash over her. It didn't impede her though, and placed the letter in a slot in the stump, then turned to leave. Confident that her message would reach Alfred within the day.

**To explain the last bit, Descendants have a form of postal system, with designated drop off spots (tree stumps, holes in wall etc)****that are protected by several layers of magic, a benign barrier for normal humans (Oh, I left the kettle on!) and an outright barrier for immortals. With designated people to collect the various reports and letters (in HOG it's usually the Scribes). Communication between Descendant groups is usually in Atlantian and personal communication is in a language of their choice.**

* * *

**I would also like to show the notes I made regarding the changes to the main story that would happen in this AU (it's mainly character stuff, rather than overall events)**

**Jackie would be back in Burgess for the start of the new school year, and experience the latter end of summer for the first time in 9 years. Would probably still meet Jamie in the same manner-not as familiar with Burgess. Penelope wouldn't be attracted to Jackie, so would just move on. Samuel's attack would still happen, but it would be less well informed so the Burgess Branch would come out victorious and there would be no deaths. The combined attacks on DJF would cause Alfred to want a massive meeting, and of course that attack will still happen, but there would be no one to pull Jackie out, so she would be captured along with everyone else. A combination of Jack noticing the disappearance, Descendants still at the DJF fort and no one being able to expect what the combined brains of the Beck brothers, Jackie and Greg's older sister can come up with. Retreat to DJF's original base to re-group and split off.**

**Jackie doesn't get to go, and there's no Penelope to give insider knowledge, so the war goes on a lot longer, a couple of years at least. Meanwhile, Jackie's trying to weedle as much info about Pitch from Jack (and eventually the other Guardians) as possible in order to help as much as she can. Also, since the Burgess Branch can't teach her to fight, Jack managed to get Bunny and North to step in (may have been some bribery/blackmail/forfeit on Bunny's part, North's just always happy)**

**War finally finishes and there's a bit of an issue when the Burgess Branch take over Jackie's training, Billy and Nigel feel a bit inadequate compared to Bunny and North, but it's Tina who tells them to get over themselves.**

**The rest happens in kinda the same way, except Jackie would learn about the Lupine attacks a different way, Samuel wouldn't be involved as there's not as much of a grudge, and while Jackie would be forced to go alone to the Pole, she would get backup for getting Jamie back, so Taboo wouldn't be created, not to mention no ice animals would have drilled into her already. When Pete goes after she successfully beats him without passing out.**

**Don't Fear the Reaper would also be the same, except there's be no section with Greg or with Paura. Wouldn't be able to summon Mortimer from Danny's death, so they would probably either go from Jack's sister or Alfred. Also Pitch would use Alfred's body, not Danny's. Mortimer would not be able to 'pay back' Jackie, as Jack would take the scythe back and return his sister's body and in this AU there's no death that Jackie feels guilty about.**


	93. Light and Cold vs Dark and Stormy Part 1

**What's this? Uploading more than one mini series in a row? Madness!**

**This is 2 shot I did as part of a collaboration with AlmostAstrid on DeviantArt. More info and relevant links will be at the end.**

Rumble rumble rumble...Crack BOOM!

19 year old Alan Lane watched the skies from his perch on top of the church tower with great interest. Towards the south the sky was covered in dark clouds, but there was a long, thin gap of clear sky between them. That gap had slowly been closing for the last few hours, with thunder continuously cracking and lightning flashing.

Alan laughed to himself as forked lightning flashed again from the left side, not quite reaching the gap of sunshine.

"Wow, they're not even trying to be subtle." he remarked, still chuckling. He crossed his dark clad legs and tapped his red and white trainers with long, pale fingers. "You'd think they were trying to attract attention."

"What are you doing up there?!"

Alan craned his head down, flattening his hair down as some brown strands got in the way of his equally brown eyes. Below him in the church yard was a girl about the same age as him with even paler skin than him and an irritated expression in her rose coloured eyes.

"Hey Tundra!" Alan called down, and Tandra folded her arms, still looking annoyed.

"You're going to get in trouble if someone spots you." she warned, not even a lip twitch at the nickname as she fiddled with the keys on her belt instead, clinking against her 19th century style glasses. She did not have an Irish accent like Alan, instead her accent leant more towards Indian. Although she did like to emulate a hodge podge of cultures.

"They're too busy watching that." Alan nodded towards the two storms. "The two sides are starting to get going. How long to think it will take for them to finally get started, huh?" Alan's face bore an amused grin.

"It's not funny. It's a civil war!" Tandra waved a purple clad arm in frustration, disturbing her red, white fringed scarf and with her other hand on her hip. The only thing that kept her scarf from flying off completely was a round, silver broach inlaid with spherical livers of glass, with three ovals of glass hanging from it.

"No need to be such a downer." Alan said dismissively. "Come up and watch the show. No one will notice."

"Alan, seriously, come down from there!"

"It's such a good view though!" Alan protested, unfolding his legs and having them dangle over the brickwork. His red and blue checked shirt sleeves brushed along the asphalt roof as he leaned back in the mid afternoon sun. The storms hadn't reached where they were, so the normal sun was still shining, with it being just cool enough for Alan to take. The breeze that was kicking up was enough to make any of Tandra's white hair that wasn't firmly tied back shiver. Her baggy blue trousers joined them in their rebellion, fluttering in a half hearted attempt to escape her knee high black boots.

"How long do you think they'll take showing off before they actually start fighting?" Alan looked back down at an indignant Tandra.

"What does it matter? It's not our business. Alan, please just come down from there."

"Alright, alright." Alan relented, deciding that it was best not to try and goad her into flying up to him. Instead he swivelled himself around and dropped off the side of the building, landing and rolling to take off the impact. He came back up with leaves in his hair and spent a few seconds brushing them out and straightening his shirt and trousers.

Tandra helped pick out the leaves, knowing how much Alan cared about his appearance and not being able to hold on to her annoyance long enough to not help.

Alan flattened his hair down once again, failing to notice when one section in the middle sprang right back up again.

"Alright, so if we can't watch from up there, how about we get ourselves a ringside seat?" Alan's grin became mischievous.

"Alan." Tandra groaned.

"Come on! They'll be too busy fighting each other to notice we're there. How many people get to watch a battle like that? Aaaand, we can report it back to the Heads." he wheedled.

"We could get in a lot of trouble." Tandra was tempted, but she wasn't as willing to break the rules as Alan.

"Yeah, alright. We _might_ get chewed out, we _might_ have to clean up the Mess Hall. But it'll be worth it."

"No, Alan. I'm going to watch. Sorry." Tandra shook her head, purple earrings swinging as she took a step back and folded her arms across her chest, just above her dark red corset.

Alan shrugged. "Alright. Your loss. I'm going to get a front row seat to the battle of the century!" he cried, turning on his heel and walking out of the churchyard. "Don't wait up."

Tandra clicked her tongue, annoyed at Alan's cocky attitude. "It's a war, not a cinema!"

"Relax Tundra. Like I said, they're too busy trying to ram their egos down each other's throats to notice me." Alan had turned around and was now walking backwards.

"Just, be careful."

"Sure Ma." Alan responded, half mocking, half genuine. "See ya!"

* * *

Tandra sat in the meeting hall of the Belfast Branch, listening to the Branch leader read off a short list of events that had happened in the Descendant world. A short list, because beyond petty squabbles interesting things rarely happened. The civil war with the Descendants of Mother Nature being an exception.

Although, she was struggling to keep up. The Branch leader was a Descendant of Bunnymund, so naturally had an Australian accent, however it was also mixed with a strong Irish one, making it near impossible to understand unless you were born and raised in Ireland, which Tandra had not been.

She fiddled with one of her hooped earrings before looking around. The Belfast Branch was one of the larger Branches in Europe, with a current total of nine members, all sitting on folding metal chairs in a small, concrete walled room with florescent strip lighting. Except one of those nine members was missing.

She leaned towards one of the nearby Descendants, a Descendant of Toothiana like her. Bella was her name.

"Have you seen Alan?" Tandra asked, whispering.

Bella shook her head, dark hair waving in tandem like a rippling curtain. "Not since yesterday. Why?"

A creeping dread crept over Tandra. Alan may well be right and was just enjoying the show, and yet her conscience had been niggling her in the back of her mind ever since he left. She couldn't leave him! It was going to turn into a warzone, who knows what could happen?

Bella noticed her younger girl's apprehension. "He's probably alright. Alan only usually turns up half the time to these meetings. He's probably halfway a tree somewhere bird watching or something."

Tandra nodded, only half listening. "I'm going to go find him."

"Tandra, it's probably not worth worrying about." Bella started, but Tandra was up and off, sprinting out of the room, leaving a bemused Branch behind her. In the back of her mind as she felt her feet pound the hardwood floor was that she was glad that they didn't train in here as well.

She took the old, complaining, wooden stairs two at a time, bursting out from below the abandoned pub with a shove on the stubborn door. Once out she stumbled into the deserted, seemingly abandoned street and then turned towards the southern horizon. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the two thunderstorms hadn't met yet, but they weren't far off. She had half an hour at best to find him.

It was late afternoon and there was no one around, so she decided to risk it. Running again to get some momentum she unbuttoned her broach and whipped off her scarf, folding the garment neatly into a small square and tucking it into her sleeve with her broach in a clenched fist. Finally she unfurled her wings, the feathers of which were as white as her hair.

Reflex made her want to press them against her back again and she couldn't help by glance around to see if anyone was watching. No one was of course, she'd already checked, not to mention that that was the point of where the meeting place was, but she couldn't help it.

Using the momentum from running Tandra took off into the air with a slight wobble. Given the colour of wings she was always tentative about flying, and it showed. Therefore she lacked the skill that other Descendants her age had, but it was quicker than walking.

She made a quick stop at her university dorm to drop off her broach and collect her sword, strapping it to the same belt that held her glasses and keys before flying off again. Her sword was a firangi, an Indian cavalry sword which had a straight, 90cm, double sided blade with an Indian basket hilt. On the scabbard and the hilt were four silver swirls with a red oval in the middle on a purple background.

It was identical to the decoration on a headdress that sat on her desk, as both were heirlooms. However, the headdress had the addition of further curve along the top with a smaller red jewel in the middle and a purple triangular portion over the forehead, lined with a silver border and with yet another red jewel hanging front the peak of the triangle.

"Moon damn it Alan." she muttered under her breath as she flew as fast as she could towards the two storms, the winds picking up as she got closer. She didn't want to come armed, but she had read the report from when Head Davies had gone to the Descendants of Mother Nature for aid eight or nine years ago. Long story short, the Descendants of Mother Nature do not trust Descendants of Jack Frost, which was what Alan was.

As she got closer to the upcoming battlefield, closer to the storms and the howling wind she reached for her belt. Another effect of her albinism was that her eyesight wasn't as good as fellow Descendants of Toothiana, so she put her glasses on her nose, pressing them into place in order to scan for Alan.

From here she could see both sides of the upcoming battle, two groups of roughly fifty slowly creeping towards each other. Both were in pale green armour which didn't quite meld with the emerald green hills, with one side sporting bright red plumes on their helmets. At the back of both parties stood a group of five Descendants, who were the ones controlling the storm.

Naturally, Alan was hiding in the shrubbery not too far from the red plumes.

Tandra was well aware that she stood out in the stormy sky, so landed far away and ran the rest of the way. There was no rain thankfully, so her booted feet trod surely on the grass before diving down beside Alan on her stomach, breathing heavily from the exercise.

"Hey Tundra." Alan looked over, beaming. The wind had messed up his hair and there were grass stains on his checked shirt, but he didn't seem to care. "Glad you could make it, it looks like they're about to start."

"If they find us here we are dead." Tandra hissed, removing her glasses and clipping them furiously back on her belt. "We need to go, now."

"Aw come on! They're about to start, it's history Tandra!"

"_We'll_ be history if we don't go. Descendants of Mother Nature do not trust Descendants of Jack Frost, so let's not push it!"

"They're not going to find us. Lighten up Tundra." Alan shifted his position slightly.

"I will drag you back if I have to!" Tandra's voice was starting to become louder as she became more agitated. "If they find us then we're going to have a hard time talking our way out of it!"

"Tandra!" Alan hissed, waving his hands in a downward direction. "Keep it down!"

The bush above them rustled, silencing the pair. They craned their heads up in near perfect unison, both filled with a sudden sense of impending doom.

Above them peered a Descendant in full armour, which was a little different in style to HOG armour. The biggest immediate difference was the solid metal visor on this Descendant's helmet, with only a horizontal slit for vision, as opposed to HOG's clear visor. Luminous green eyes could be seen looking at the two Descendants who were lying on the ground.

"Am I interrupting something?" the voice was male, and had a faint Teutonic accent.

Alan and Tandra looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, then upon a non verbal agreement they scrambled to their feet and started to run.

The armoured Descendant spun his hands clockwise and pulled them towards him, causing the wind to turn towards them and pick up to such a degree that the two HOG Descendants were stopped in their tracks, unable to proceed at any reasonable pace as the wind buffeted against them.

Both Descendants mentally cursed as a metal covered hand grabbed them by the back of their shirts and pulled them up off the ground. Neither of them were exactly short, but this guy was a good half a metre taller than them.

"What the hell?! Come on let go!" Alan yelled, wriggling and squirming like a fish on a line in the older Descendant's grip.

"Okay, this is overkill, we were leaving!" Tandra wasn't making as big of a fuss as Alan, but she was panicked as well.

"Two Descendants spying on us? Uh huh, I'm gonna let you two go on your way."

"It's not like we saw anything!" Alan protested, grabbing the taller Descendant's hands with his own, still struggling.

"You saw numbers, that's enough. How do I know you're not gonna run to the other side and tell them?"

"You can see each other quite clearly from the other side of the valley." Tandra tried to be the voice of reason, but her voice was pitching up in fear. "They don't need us for that."

"They can't tell battle strategy and weapons from that side." the tone of voice signalled finality in the conversation as they started to reach the other red plumed Descendants.

Alan started to full on panic, remembering what Tandra had told him earlier. He struggled harder, kicking and twisting frantically, grasping at the other Descendant's gauntlets to try and loosen the grip. "Oh I am not dealing with this!"

Frost formed on the gauntlets and the armoured Descendant growled, dropping Alan immediately.

Alan made to run, but paused once he realised that Tandra hadn't been let go. The armoured Descendant's now free hand also crackled with electricity and was pointed in Alan's direction. This act caught the attention of the other Descendants, especially as the one who was still holding Tandra growled out a word.

"Frostling."

Tandra couldn't help but a snort a little. It was said so seriously, but was so cheesy that she couldn't quite take the term seriously. Alan meanwhile took a step back, any laughter at the phrase dying and his eyes darting as they were now surrounded by a group of ten armoured Descendants, each one armed to the teeth. The other forty odd were still preparing for battle, not that they weren't bristling with weapons either.

"Found these two spying on us from a bush." The Descendant holding Tandra dropped her as he explained, quickly grabbing her sword hilt and drawing it before handing it to someone else.

Tandra and Alan quickly assessed the situation. They were outnumbered, so fighting their way out wasn't an option, and the wind was too turbulent to make any kind of air escape safe, not to mention the lightning.

Alan slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a purple orb the size of a marble. A Smoke, enough to get them both away, except it would mean leaving behind Tandra's sword. Alan knew it was an heirloom, otherwise he'd be more willing to leave it behind.

Alan's hand clenched around the Smoke. It was his fault Tandra was in this mess, so he was going to get her out of it, sword and all.

"Look, okay." Alan spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, if you let us be on our way, with my friend's sword, we won't tell anyone we were here. We'd get in trouble anyway, so we don't have much of a reason to tell anyone."

Alan had turned on the charm, smiling, using his hands and acting incredibly relaxed, so both he and Tandra were surprised at the snort of disbelief.

"Really?" asked a new voice, female this time, but it was difficult to distinguish who was talking. "A storm front battlefield? Excellent place for a date."

Alan's pale face flushed slightly while Tandra clapped a hand to her forehead.

"Not a date." she muttered. "Definitely not a date."

"To be fair." Alan recovered. "You lot were not exactly being subtle. This is history in the making! Who wouldn't want a ringside seat?"

One of the armoured Descendants lost control and started laughing. "A-any sane person!" they cried, still laughing. "Why would you go to a battlefield for fun?"

Tandra took over, as the famed Irish Gift of the Gab seemed to failing Alan. "Look, this is the sort of stuff he likes. Bit of a history nut, so the chance of seeing a historical battle was too good to pass up."

Alan shot Tandra a grateful look before he continued where she left off. "See, just a misunderstanding. We'll be on our and we don't ever have to mention that this happened. Okay?"

Alan took a step towards the guy holding Tandra's sword, but that Descendant took a step back and a spear came down, blocking Alan.

"Nice try kid, but don't think we'll believe anything that comes out of your mouth." Another one of the armoured Descendants stepped forward, poking Alan in the chest. "Anything that you manage to spew from your cakehole is bound to be rubbish."

Alan swallowed nervously as he looked up at the taller Descendant, the red feathered plume shuddering in the wind as the other red plumes agreed with the statement, similar sentiments colouring the air.

_'Tricksters' 'Trouble makers' 'Liars' 'Just wants to start a stupid snowball fight'_ Were just a few of the words and phrases that could be made out in the sudden clamour.

Tandra meanwhile felt her fists clench. How dare they. How _dare_ they make judgements like that about Alan. Sure he could be arrogant and one hell of a prankster when he put his mind to it, but a liar at a time like this?

"Leave him alone." she said, voice full of barely hidden fury, which cut through the din. "He's done nothing but tell the truth the entire time and you turn on him! Why?!"

"He's a Descendant of Jack Frost." was the answer, spoken as if it explained everything. For them it might, but for Tandra it wasn't nearly enough justification.

Alan was much more surprised than Tandra, and was also starting to feel anger in his belly, growing at an exponential rate.

"What the hell?!" he cried, gesturing with his hands wildly. "Just because Jack Frost is my many times great uncle or something means that I'm some lying, untrustworthy areshole?! That's bull!"

"And the true colours show." snorted another of the armoured Descendants.

Tandra put a hand on Alan's shoulder, making him jump from the sudden heat and her to struggle not to flinch from the cold emanating off him. She was angry too, but now was not the time or place.

"It would make sense for other side to use a frostling." someone said. "Since they're so pro for what our late High Overseer stood for." they added with disgust.

"Long may High Overseer Mallon reign!" yelled someone at the back, and a cheer of agreement went up through the ranks, even from those that weren't part of the confrontation.

Alan and Tandra looked at each other as the red plumed Descendants of Mother Nature roared in unison. They were surrounded by wind, water and lightning powered bigots who were armed to the teeth. Chances of getting out in one piece were slim.

**So, yes, this follows an older Alan Lane, who appears in both Black Sheep and Severance (bit roles mind you). None of the chapters he's in are up on FF, but I don't think that's much of an issue, given that this is his first proper outing.**

**Tandra is originally from a Branch in India, but is staying in Belfast for a bit.**

**Tandra belongs to AlmostAstrid, and... darn it! Links aren't working. Okay, my DA username is the same me FF one, you'll find them in my Favourites. Sorry.  
**

**She also did a full scene piece, which was her part of the collab, but I'll save that for the next part. Also, explanations for what's going on with the Descendants of Mother Nature will be in the next part.**


	94. Light and Cold vs Dark and Stormy Part 2

While the red plumes were distracted Alan iced part of Tandra's sword and used his power to yank it out of the other Descendant's grip, tossing it to Tandra.

"Let's go!" he cried as the red plume alerted his fellows to what was happening. Tandra was already close to him, so he prepared to throw down the Smoke.

Only to cry out in pain as one of the red plumes sent a shock of electricity his way making him drop the Smoke and sending it rolling into the grass. Tandra scanned the ground for the Smoke, but found nothing before she shoved away from Alan by a blur of pale green armour.

"Alan!" she cried, trying to see him between the gaps as the other Descendants rushed them, mainly heading towards Alan.

She felt someone grab her and she quickly got out of the hold, pointing her sword at her attacker. In turn they pulled out their own two swords, the metal singing as the weapons were pulled from their scabbards.

A firangi was good for cutting and Tandra usually fought in mid air, giving her plenty of space to move. However, the strong wind made that very difficult, and her opponent was in full armour, which her sword was going to have little effect on. Unlike her opponent, she would also usually have a buckler shield, but she didn't grab it earlier.

Basically, she wasn't in a great position to win this.

Alan had to pull up walls of ice and block the various lightning attacks that were being fired at him from all sides. This lessened the blows to slight jolts rather than muscle spasms, but he was stuck. He wasn't nearly as good at psychic ice as Head Davies, so had to hold his arms out to keep the ice up, with no way of attacking back without breaking the walls.

He heard Tandra call his name, but was in no position to respond, the barrage of electricity, shields and booted feet made it difficult to concentrate on anything other than keeping those walls whole and up.

Tandra held her sword in a one handed grip with her other hand behind her back, turning the sword over hand as her opponent did the same with his two swords. She was scared, she wasn't in armour and didn't have much in the way of defence. Not that her opponent would care, this was a war and they were convinced that she was on the other side. Normal rules weren't going to apply.

The red plume attacked first, lazily swinging their swords for Tandra to block, one above then one from the side. It was a test, to see how she'd react. Then they started moving faster, advancing as Tandra backed away, blocking with everything she had. Most of her weight was on her back foot as she skipped back, contorting her body to dodge as well as blocking.

The red plume swung with their swords, one after the other in quick succession, making Tandra block and skip to avoid getting hit. It was clear that her opponent wasn't worried, and they had every right not to be; they had the upper hand.

Another set come, the front sword went up for Tandra to block, but then the second was coming up towards her belly. Tandra skipped backwards again, losing her block but avoiding getting stabbed in the stomach. As she tried to move left she was blocked by one of the swords, for the other to come in again, this time coming in for a decapitation.

She rapidly blocked the neck shot, only to instinctively fling herself backwards to avoid the other blade. Her wings shot out to flap, but as she wasn't in the air all she did propel herself backwards faster, her feet scrambling for purchase on the ground until she lost her balance and fell.

Her wings flared out behind her on the grass and she had to roll to avoid the downward sword thrust. She only just tucked her wing around her in time to prevent her feathers from being sliced off.

Once she felt she was far enough away she sprang back up to her feet, her wings folding against her back again.

Tandra felt very limited on the ground, more used to 360 degree environment where the position of your feet didn't really matter. Even so, she was managing to get by without getting cut, although it was debatable about how that would last.

The ringing of steel on steel managed to reach Alan and he gritted his teeth. They needed to get out here, now.

He drew in a deep breath, and his power along with it, weakening the walls a bit. With a sudden cry he let loose, sending out a blast of ice in a wide circle. The force sent the attacking Descendants back and Alan had less than a second to catch his breath before he started running. He only paused to snatch the Smoke from a red plume on the edge of the group who had found it and was investigating it.

"Tandra!" he yelled as loud as he could to get her attention as he ran past. Tandra was moving as quickly as could around the dual wielder, but once she heard Alan she went on a quick offensive. She slashed forward, forcing a retreat before she started to run as well.

The same group of ten or so peeled off from the main fifty and gave chase, electricity sparking and circulating around the fingers of some of them.

"Can you fly?" Alan panted. They had a slight speed advantage over their pursuers, but when those pursuers can control the wind...

"I can try." Tandra said, the further they got from the main battleground the weaker the winds became. "Although, I don't think I can carry you."

"Well, we can't stop to use a Smoke." Alan's breathing was calming down, even as he was running.

The wind had died down a fair amount and Tandra looked over her shoulder to see if they were still be chased.

Her eyes then widened.

"Get down!" she yelled, tackling Alan for good measure as a bolt of lightning shot over their heads.

"I'm going to get in the air." declared Tandra, ignoring the ozone smell that now filled the air. Before Alan could say anything she was up, her white wings flapping hard to keep herself in place in the wind.

In response several red plumes also took to the air on concentrated air platforms, bobbing up and down on air currents as they moved in on Tandra. The rest stayed on the ground and went for Alan.

This time he stood his ground and formed a staff out of ice. It lacked the circular topper of his normal staff, but he really didn't have the time for that as he blocked a blow from a spear.

He shoved them away and danced backwards, sending a blast of snow towards them with a slash of the staff. He then spun his staff in a circle, forming more snow from the air moisture, then slammed it down, sending out a sheet of ice to slip up the other Descendants at the same time.

Some of the snow remained airbourne to send at them in waves, but parts of it melted and became water without his input. The water was then pulled back by some of the red plumes, where it hovered over their open palms.

_Oh yeah, some of them have some control over water. Like that's going to help them._ Alan smirked and risked a glance up, seeing how Tandra was doing before flinging the snow at them and firing blasts of ice out of the end of his staff.

Tandra was up against the dual wielder again while the others hung back, either as an honour thing or to try and stop her getting too far. However, this time, she was in the air. While she may lack the finesse of those with membrane wings, she was still in more control than her opponent.

She went above and behind them to avoid their swords, but didn't outright attack. Instead she poked them with the point of her sword before moving.

Her opponent grunted and swung, but missed as Tandra flew backwards, only to zip up and behind to poke them again. She couldn't help but grin as she continued to repeat this.

Her opponent was getting more and more frustrated by this until they shoved their hand forward, sending a blast if air towards Tandra to knock her out of the sky.

She shrieked and tumbled, the world becoming a kaleidoscope of colours before she landed... in a snow drift?

She lifted her head up to see Alan not too far away, sending waves of snow at the approaching red plumes, but she could see that he was getting worn out. Frozen sweat glistened on his forehead and the snow he was producing, while still hampering the enemy's progress, was becoming thinner and more powdery.

Tandra scrambled to her feet, grabbing her sword as the red plume she'd been fighting crashed into the snow drift. Instead of facing them however she ran for Alan, grabbing his arm. Again, he flinched and she struggled not to release her grip as his body was now concerningly cold. If she couldn't feel his pulse and muscles moving she'd have thought she'd grabbed hold of a corpse in a morgue.

"Come on, run!"

Alan was too drained to argue, so scrambled to follow her.

Now that they weren't being attacked however, the red plumes could retaliate. Aerokinetics increased the wind speed, and fog manipulators started condensing water vapour to block off the two fleeing Descendants.

The wind slowed Tandra's and Alan's progress right down, and the forming fog made them stop in their tracks. Fog users could tell where everything and everyone was exactly in their own fog. So if Alan and Tandra got caught in the fog, they might as well be writing their own obituaries.

Alan reached into his pocket and grabbed the Smoke. Now seemed like the perfect time to use it.

"Just follow me." he said before making sure Tandra was close enough and throwing down the Smoke.

The scene in front of them disappeared in a plume of purple smoke. Immediately the wind disappeared and once the smoke cleared they found themselves in Alan's room.

"Sorry." he said as he collapsed on his bed, flattening his hair down tiredly. "First place I thought of."

Tandra stood awkwardly as Alan leaned back on his pale blue covers, and suddenly he just started laughing. There was no real reason for it, and very quickly Tandra was giggling as well.

It could have been stress, relief or anything else, but they were quickly laughing like lunatics, with Tandra doubled over and wiping tears from her eyes.

Finally the two calmed down, and Tandra got a better look at Alan's room.

"I thought Bella was kidding about the bird watching." she commented, as bird identification posters dotted the walls, binoculars and stands stood dotted around, along with various books and a games console.

Above them the ceiling was decorated with bird silhouettes, with common and scientific names underneath them.

"Shut up." Alan was actually embarrassed, his face flushing red as he fiddled with the button on his shirt sleeve. "It's a hobby."

"Hmmm." Tandra looked around the room. "Right..." she decided to stop teasing him. "Spot any birds before I showed up?"

"Nah. Those two armies were making too much noise." Alan had his hands tucked underneath the back of his head as he lay there. "and, er, thanks. I don't think I could have gotten out of there without you Tundra."

Tandra shook her head. "I should have been quieter when I showed up. I was just worried."

"I know. I'm sorry." Alan's usually cheerful or mocking expression had faded, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes with his fore finger and thumb. "You almost lost your sword, I am so sorry."

Tandra was tempted to make a comment about Alan actually apologising instead of waving it off, but decided against it. It wasn't often that he was this sincere.

"It's okay. We got away, that's all that mattered."

Alan still troubled, so Tandra sat down on the bed next to him and extended one wing, wrapping it around his shoulders.

"Thanks." There was a half smile on his face. "I just... can't believe what they said." he let out a little laugh, but there wasn't much humour to it. "I didn't think anyone was seriously that bigoted. I mean, I know it could have been worse, a lot worse. I just didn't think..."

Tandra was silent, but the curling of her primaries made Alan look over at her.

"You do?"

Tandra shrugged. "Not everyone likes albinos."

"Well, that's stupid." Alan declared. "You can't help that!"

"Neither of us can help it." Tandra shrugged. "Look, it doesn't matter. Let's just forget today happened."

Alan snorted with laughter. "Yeah, those guys are not going to want to admit that they lost two Descendants that were potentially spying on them!"

"Exactly. So no one knows. If anyone from the Branch asks, I found you bird watching."

"Agreed." Alan concurred, as distant thunder boomed once again.

**Explanation of what the Descendants of Mother Nature were up to here.**

**Samantha Mallon was the Descendant of Mother Nature who told Jackie to leave in Don't Fear the Reaper Chapter 24. Then she was an Overseer in Training, but the High Overseer at the time has now died and Samantha Mallon is trying to take her place, except about half of the Descendants of Mother Nature are against this. Samantha is a very traditional Descendant of Mother Nature, who has more traditional views on things like the Descendants of Jack Frost, the general view of which have become more favourable since Jack Frost became a Guardian. However Samantha doesn't hold that opinion. The previous High Overseer was trying to get Descendants into the normal world a bit more and had a more favourable view of the Descendants of Jack Frost, making them popular with some and unpopular with others. Since their passing the Descendants of Mother Nature have been slowly split down the middle about which direction to go down, whether to follow the old High Overseer's ways or go back to how they were before. This has escalated into a civil war.**

**Teutonic- a form of German accent, used on its own. Refers to knights in prior to German unification. I would guess it's a dignified form of German accent. If anyone actually knows feel free to correct me.**


	95. Babysitting

**First one of teen Jackie in a while. She's about 16 in this one, and it was actually written a while ago, hence the 1st Person, I just got around to giving it a little polish.**

**This references back to a point in Black Sheep where Jackie tells Alexander that she used to babysit. This is who she used to babysit. Also be aware that I don't have much experience in this field. I've worked with kids, I've taught kids, but I've never babysat them, because in reality I'm not all that fond of kids (why do you think I hardly ever write from a Guardian's perspective?). The only reason I interact with them at all is because they intersect with other things I do.  
That being said, I think Jackie is a lot better with kids than I am, especially later in life.**

"Ah, Jackie, there you are."

I looked up from my book and up at Mrs Bennett, who was standing just in front of me from my position on the park bench.

"Why were you looking for me?" I asked, closing the book.

"I'm out of town tomorrow night, and Jamie's staying at Monty's tomorrow, so there's no one to look after Sophie for the night. You're a responsible teenager."

My eyes went wide as I got what she was saying. "You want me to look after Sophie? For the whole night?"

"If you would. I understand if you have homework to do, but I'm not sure who else to ask."

I opened my mouth to politely turn her down, I have no idea how to look after kids after all. Then, I closed it. Mrs Bennett and Jamie were good friends of mine, and she was trusting me to look after her youngest. Could I betray that trust?

"Okay." I said, wondering how badly I was going to regret this as Mrs Bennett's face lit up.

"Great! Can you come over at around five tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"See you then!"

* * *

The next evening I as at the Bennett's like I said I would be, small bag with pyjamas, some school work and toothbrush and paste. I was nervous about this, because it had occurred to me that the Bennett's had a dog. Would Mrs Bennett expect me look after Abby too?

I rang the doorbell and took a step back. The door quickly opened and Mrs Bennett grinned and ushered me inside.

"Come in come in, you must be freezing out here!"

_Oh, if only you knew._

Sophie was sitting at the kitchen table, doodling with crayons and humming as Mrs Bennett rushed around, pulling her coat on.

"Alright. You don't have to worry about Abby, next door's looking after her. Sophie's had her dinner, but if she wants something to eat there's sandwich stuff, and I've left written instructions for a hot chocolate. Jamie said that don't know how to make one."

"Thanks." I said, suppressing my nervousness at the idea of making hot chocolate. It probably wouldn't be hot by the time I was done with it.

"Try and get her in bed by seven, and I won't be back until early morning, so feel free to crash on the sofa. Don't worry about breakfast, I'll fix you something."

"Are you sure? I can go home before then."

"Consider it part of your payment." Mrs Bennett winked at me before turning to Sophie.

"Okay, Soph, I'm heading off."

"Okay!" cried Sophie from the table, not looking from her drawing.

"Jackie's going to be looking after you tonight, so be good, and I'll you tomorrow."

"Bye!" called Sophie as her mom disappeared through the front door. As the door slammed the weight of the situation sank in. I was looking after a child for the night.

This was going to end badly.

Sophie still hadn't moved from her drawing, so out of nothing better to do, I placed my bag under the table and sat down at the table.

"So, what you drawing Sophie?"

"Bunny!" she declared gleefully, and I felt a small amount of the relief. This was something I could be honest with.

"Can I see?"

"No."

"Why not?" I asked, tilting my head to one side in an exaggerated attempt at showing curiosity.

"You're too old. You can't see him."

I hadn't expected that answer. "What makes you think that?"

"Jamie says only kids who believe can see them. You're not a kid."

"No, but I do believe."

Sophie paused and looked up from her work, her green eyes narrowed in suspicion. She quickly covered her work with her arms and asked me.

"What does Bunny look like?"

Counting off my fingers I said. "Well, he's tall, grey fur, stands on two legs, has leather around his feet and his arms, has an Australian accent."

I paused to look at Sophie, and felt a little smug when I saw that her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"So, do I pass?"

Sophie nodded, and moved her arms away from her piece of paper. On it was a childish representation of Bunnymund, but still pretty accurate. A speech bubble from roughly his head said. 'Ya little anklebiter.'

"That looks a lot like him." I said.

Sophie nodded in agreement, than after a second of thought, put a piece of paper and a crayon in front of me.

"Draw him." she demanded, and I complied. It had been years since I'd worked with crayons, and they were more unwieldy than I was used to. More than once my frustration threatened to bubble over and frost over the crayon, but I managed to keep it in.

Once I was done I had a rough representation of Bunnymund, not as good as I would like, but with what I had, I was happy.

"Done." I announced and turned it around so Sophie could see. Her eyes widened, then she looked back at her work and her face fell.

Now I was a little stuck. "H-hey, it takes time, you know?"

When she didn't look any happier I looked wildly around for something to distract her. It was barely even six, so I decided just to give it a shot.

"Hey, your mom left me some instructions for hot chocolate, want some?"

Sophie's face lit up and she nodded, drawing seemingly forgotten as I grabbed the instructions off the table and scanned them.

"This doesn't seem too hard." I noted. "Milk, coco powder, two minutes in the microwave." I paused on that last word. "Microwave?"

I looked up from the recipe to look around the kitchen and there wasn't a kettle in sight. "Huh."

I suppose that came with having a dad from the UK, he point blank refused to not have a kettle according to mom. He even went as far as to declare most Americans as barbarians for using a microwave. Best not to mention this to him.

I put the recipe down and spent a minute or so looking for mugs as Sophie got increasingly more excited, jumping around and getting under my feet.

"Can I have marshmallows?" she asked excitedly, still jumping around as if she'd had enough sugar for one day.

"If I can find some." I said, the recipe hadn't said anything about marshmallows! When do you put those in? Do you put them in? Is like dipping bread in soup? Do they melt?

I combined the two ingredients and fiddled with the microwave to get it to the right temperature and time.

"Okay Sophie, where are the marshmallows?" I asked.

"I don't know."

I struggled not to sigh. "Okay. If I can find marshmallows, you can have them. If not, then you can't. Does that sound fair?"

"Okay!" she replied brightly and I started hunting through the cupboards for Sophie's treat. She continued hopping around behind me, alternating between 'bunny hop hop!' and 'choccy choccy!' Good to know she was easily pleased.

The microwave binged before I found the marshmallows however, so I had to shake my head.

"Sorry Sophie, no marshmallows."

"I want marshmallows!" she demanded.

"I can't find them, so, no marshmallows."

Sophie pouted as I opened the microwave, and I was hit with a blast of heat and a fresh challenge.

How was I going to get the hot chocolate out?

I reeled back away from the heat, and Sophie stopped pouting and started giggling.

"You're funny. You're not scared of the microwave, are you?"

"No." I said, looking around the kitchen for something to shield me from the heat. My eyes landed on a pair of tongs.

"Ah hah!" I said, and grabbed them from the counter. Pulling my hoodie up over my face, I reached into the microwave and grabbed the mug with the tongs. All the while Sophie was laughing.

_Glad someone finds this funny_. I thought as I carefully extracted the hot drink like it was nuclear waste. Once there was nothing to support it the mug tilted alarmingly in my grip, and I quickly set it down on the side before too much spilled out. I did not want to have to clean that up.

I then realised that Sophie was too small to reach the counter.

"Sophie, I'm going to pick you up so you can get your drink okay?"

"Yay!"

I managed to grip her around the waist, and lifted her and held her like I'd seen a bunch of people do, although I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. She was more or less sitting on my arm.

"You're cold." Sophie commented and my heart sank slightly.

"Am I, huh?" I went, deciding to play obliviousness. "You'll warm up when you get your drink."

Sophie got her drink and I set her down at the table to drink it.

"You should drink one. Then you won't be so cold."

The idea made me want to vomit.

"Ahhh, no thank you. I'm alright." I said as I sat back down.

Sophie wasn't put off though, and pushed her mug towards me. "Drink."

"Thanks Sophie, but it's yours. You drink it."

"But I'm not cold."

"I appreciate it, but I'm alright. Honest."

Sophie decided it wasn't worth badgering me, so started to drink.

"You're like Jack." she said, and that one sentence made me freeze.

"H-how so?"

"He's cold too, and he doesn't like hot choccy either."

She then looked over her mug and scrutinised my face. "You look like him too."

"Well, whaddya know." I said, not having much else to say.

She finished her drink in relative silence, and once the mug was drained she let a large yawn.

"Looks like someone's tired." I commented.

"Nuh uh." said Sophie sleepily.

"Uh huh." I responded, my own mom having played a similar game when I was Sophie's age. "Bed time I think."

Sophie grumbled as I took the mug and placed it on the side and helped her upstairs to bed. From here I was a little at a loss, should I help her get into her pyjamas? Do I help her with her teeth? What do I do now!?

Thankfully this was answered as Sophie pulled off her top and pulled on her pyjama top.

"Okay, you can get ready on your own?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

Sophie nodded, and for some reason looked a little nervous. She shook it off before I could ask though, so I just shrugged to myself and walked downstairs.

I got some of stuff out to do some homework, not that I really needed to, I'd done most of it. I just needed to proof read it and I was done.

I decided to give it quarter of an hour before looking in on Sophie. She had only just made it to the bed, but she wasn't quite under the duvet. Instead she was sprawled on top of it, snoring slightly.

I had to smile at the cute sight, and decided to tuck her in.

With that job done I yawned myself. It was still early, so I should probably read through my work before turning myself.

* * *

An hour or so later I was curling up on the sofa, all of the lights off and shifting around to get comfy. My proportions had finally sorted themselves out, so I wasn't quite as lanky as I used to be, but I was pushing it on the sofa if I wanted to stretch out. I settled to curling up, not bothering with a blanket, I didn't need one anyway.

I'd was just about to drop off when I heard a scream from upstairs.

"Sophie!" I cried, instantly awake and off the sofa, charging upstairs. Kids screaming was never good, any number of scenarios passed through my head lighting fast.

I burst open her door and slapped on the light to see Sophie curled up in her sheets, still crying out.

"Sophie! What's wrong?" I asked, trying to sound calm.

Sophie's screaming faded to sniffles. "I was scared."

"Scared of what?" I asked, carefully coming over and kneeling next to the bed.

"The Boogeyman. The Boogeyman's coming."

That sent shivers of fear down my spine, but I decided not to show it.

"Well, the Bogeyman's no match for me." I outright lied. "He's not gonna get you while I'm here."

"Promise?"

"I promise." I said. "I'll even check."

I ducked my head to look under her bed. There were toys, sweet wrappers and shoes underneath it, but no sign of Pitch.

"He's not here." I looked back up to see Sophie's bright green eyes staring at me.

"Sure?"

"Completely sure." I said.

Sophie seemed to think about it. "What if he comes when you're asleep?"

"Then I'll wake up."

Sophie didn't seem convinced.

"Can you stay here?" she asked, in a voice that made my heart melt. I was reminded of Danny asking that whenever he had a nightmare, and I almost cried.

"Yeah, I'll stay."

I sat on the bed and Sophie, instead of going back under the covers, decided my lap was better.

"Er, Sophie. I'm not exactly warm." I said, my hands raised awkwardly as I tried to work out what to do.

"You're like Jack." she murmured sleepily, curling up like a cat.

"Y-yeah. I guess I am." I conceded.

Her hands gripped my pyjama shirt, and she was quickly asleep again.

I yawned myself, and realised that I was kinda stuck. I couldn't go back downstairs without jostling Sophie, so I would have to make do on Sophie's bed.

Moving carefully so I wouldn't wake her up, I lay on my back on Sophie's bed, and slowly fell asleep, keeping a watchful eye out for any sign of Pitch.

Mrs Bennett was back even later than she expected, so it was no surprise to her that the house was dark.

She opened the door as quietly as she could so not to disturb the probably sleeping Jackie, but when she looked into the lounge, the sofa was empty.

"Jackie?" she called softly, but got no response.

Frowning to herself Mrs Bennett climbed up the stairs to look in on Sophie, and saw something that made her smile softly.

Sophie was curled up on Jackie's chest, fast asleep, and the teenager was sprawled out on Sophie's bed, also asleep.

Mrs Bennett nodded to herself, still smiling. She knew she'd made the right choice for a babysitter. There were plenty of other teenagers in Burgess sure, but none were as mature as Jackie. Sure, she had been forced into maturity after the death of her brother, and most seemed to see a withdrawn, moody teenager. However, Mrs Bennett was glad she realised differently.

Jackie was a sweet soul, hidden underneath layers of emotional protection, but Mrs Bennett believed that she didn't have a bad bone in her body. And, if her friendship with Jamie was anything to go by, she had to be at least half decent with kids.

Still smiling gently, Mrs Bennett closed the door and let the two sleep.

Before tip toeing downstairs to retrieve a camera. This was just too good to pass up on.

**Yeah, I made Jackie's dad English because I needed a way to excuse any Britishisms that Jackie might do or say that any other American might not that I wouldn't notice because I, myself, am English. Also, yeah, that sums my opinions of Americans using microwaves for hot drinks. Although, I shouldn't stereotype, the first time I saw that was with a babysitter _I_ had when I was little, who made me a mug of hot chocolate with a microwave, and I remember being very confused.**

**I know Sophie was only 2 when the events of ROTG happened, but I do think it would have an impact on her. A love of Easter, rabbits, chocolate and Australian accents, and a fear of the dark and the Monster Under the Bed for many years to come.**

**Finally, I don't think Mrs Bennett has a canon first name. I like Natasha personally, any objections?**


	96. I'm Down Here!

It was the second meeting this week.

It had been a few days since Melbourne, and I was surprised to find out exactly how much organisation it takes to cover up something like that. There were mind wipe spells, finding and removing videos put on the internet, making sure it doesn't make the news.

There was also a new addition, which I noticed that no one had drawn attention to.  
Samson could no longer walk.

The lightning strikes had fried his nervous system to the point where he was paralysed from the waist down. This was the first time we'd really seen him as well. We knew he'd been working with his Descendants to get everyone who might have seen something to dismiss it as a dream, but we hadn't actually seen him.

Honestly, he looked rough. He was usually impeccably dressed and smart, never even a hair out of place. However, today his suit was crumpled and stained and his hair was sticking up in all directions, his olive face pale and drawn. Every now and again sand would curl from his fingertips and then dissipate messily, crumbling onto the table and disappearing, and even that lacked the usual glow of Dreamsand, it was dull, like sand you'd find on a beach.

Once I'd said my piece about making snow sculptures in the area, to enhance the dream cover as well as the weird weather one, we all turned to Samson.

"Dreams in place." he lethargically, "No one thinks what they saw was real."

"Erm, good." Jason coughed. "How about we meet again in a week?"

"Yep." Alexander nodded. "Let's keep it up until we know for certain that no one believes what they saw."

We started to pack up, putting away reports, when I noticed that Taboo had gone over to Samson.

The Heads didn't really like Taboo, I wasn't blind, I could see that. They were afraid of her, but Samson just looked down at her with glassy eyes. He hadn't moved out of his new wheelchair, his normal Head chair shoved behind him.

Taboo tilted her head to the side, and then with a sigh rested her head in his lap like a dog.

This finally got a reaction of Samson, jumping from the cold and looking between me and Taboo with a look of surprise.

"She likes being scratched behind the ears." I said with a shrug, not quite sure what Taboo was doing.

Samson still looked confused, but carefully began to scratch Taboo behind the ear, trying not to scratch off any of the ice.

I knew she liked being scratched a little harder than that, but she still started purring. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that the other Heads had stopped what they were doing to watch what was going on.

Samson regularly switched fingers to scratch, but he seemed to drift off into his own world for a few minutes. Then he started crying.

I was stunned. Samson, the rock and voice of reason in the group along with Claire, the man who never raised his voice and always had the right thing to say, was crying his eyes out.

True to form he wasn't crying loudly, his tears were silent, I only noticed because he was staring off into space and they were starting to roll down his cheeks.

Claire continued to pack up, her hands stiff. I just stared at her, not sure why she was pretending that this wasn't happening. She noticed me staring and whispered.

"Most people want to cry in private about these things."

Before I could respond Alexander walked around to Samson's left side with one of the brown chairs in his hand. He set it down next to him and sat down in it. Not saying or doing anything, just waiting.

Jason was next, going to his right side, but seemingly more at a loss than Alexander, his hands twisting over themselves.

"Just because they want to." I whispered to Claire. "Doesn't mean they should."

Before she could respond I joined the other three, sitting between Alexander and Taboo. Honestly, I was at a loss as well, my cold touch probably wasn't going to help.

Finally Claire gave in as well and sat opposite to me and we waited for Samson to gather himself.

He finally seemed to realise we were there and went red, quickly brushing tears off his face.

"Apologies my friends. I wasn't thinking-"

"It's okay." Alexander said. "Just because we work together doesn't mean we can't open with each other."

"It is, nothing you need to concern yourselves with."

"That sounds like something I'd say." I said.

Jason was floundering for something to say, but Claire just decided to be blunt.

"Samson, you look a mess. This isn't like you."

Samson looked at his suit, as if seeing for the first time that it was a mess. He put his hands to his face and bent his head, shoulders shaking.

The four of us looked at each other, not sure what to say. Taboo butted her head against Samson's, licking his cheek. Samson shivered, but sniffed and muttered.

"I am sorry."

"There's nothing you need to be sorry for." Jason said, carefully putting a hand on Samson's knee. "Just talk to us, please."

In a rare show of temper Samson thudded his fists against his now useless legs, narrowly missing Taboo's head and Jason's hand.

"I am useless!" he cried. "A few jolts of lightning and I cannot walk! I cannot do my job like this! I am of no help now!"

"You can still lead. You never liked fighting to begin with." said Claire. "You got this position through your clear head and talent with sand, fighting never came into it."

"I still cannot help if required." he lamented. "And work..."

"If you're fired because you can't walk, then they're insane." Alexander said, and Samson scoffed.

"A kitchen is a high pressure environment Alexander, you need to be able to move quickly, especially during dinner rushes."

"Isn't it possible to change shifts, so you won't have to move around so much." I suggested, one look from Samson told me he'd already thought of that, and he didn't like it.

"Thank you, but, I must go now." he wheeled himself out and away, and we moved out of his way and watched him go.

"Samson loves his job." Jason said once the double doors had slammed shut. "Not being to be able to do it properly must be breaking his heart."

My arms folded against my chest, I didn't want to think about that. I didn't want to see Samson as anything but unmoveable, but just now had proved otherwise.

"This is not an easy thing to fix." Claire said. "I have seen patients like this, angry about something that they can't control. He needs time."

_"Not alone though. I've seen enough for you memories to know that it's not a good idea."_ Taboo prompted me, and I passed it on.

"Not on his own. I know his Branch is probably helping him, and I'd hope his work colleagues, but surely us as well?"

"Not sure how we can, except go on as usual." Jason shrugged.

"Just let him know he can come to us if he needs it. We can't force him." Alexander shook his head. "We'd better get going, nothing's going to get done if we stand around like this. See you next week."

We all left, but I doubt any of us could get the image of Samson crying out of our heads, I know I couldn't.

We weren't just going to leave him, it would take time, I know it will, but Samson was going to get through this. Kicking and screaming if necessary.

**I'm not dead!  
I've been working on some HOG/Mimpossible one shots, which won't be going up on here until Severance is finished on here, and I have to wait until MimitationBalance puts up the Epilogue to Black Sheep. So, that's been taking up some time.**

**So, actual story related stuffThis is something that was glossed over a lot in Black Sheep, and I'm kinda nervous about this one. This is just how I interpret Samson going through something like this, and I have no experience of it myself, so I'm assuming a lot of things I'm afraid.**  
**I'm also assuming about the kitchen environment, all I know about that is from shows like 'Great British Menu' and 'Masterchef'.**

**Also, title, had a really hard time on this one, ended up picking my dad's brain, and I can find a double meaning in this, although if anyone has an issue with it, I'm open to suggestions.**


	97. Leaves

Jackie flicked through one of the folders in the pile she had to read through today. A lot of it was supposed to be interesting, such as the history of HOG and other Descendant events. However, it was written in the dullest possible fashion, making it difficult for Jackie to sit through, even with music playing.

Thankfully, the next one was a pale blue one, that never failed to get her attention.

She skim read the rest of the brown one before starting the blue folder, which turned out to be a profile on Jack, great.

Another flick through revealed what Jackie thought, it was a fairly detailed account of Jack's life, and she didn't want to read that. Especially not when she knew him personally. This is stuff she should hear from him, not from an emotionless piece of paper.

Jackie still had a cursory look at the impersonal sections, such as powers, where she found something interesting. Or just odd, depending on how you looked at it.

"Jack can talk to leaves?" Jackie had no idea whether to laugh or just be confused.

_"Huh? He can what now?"_ Taboo asked sleepily.

"Talk, to leaves..."

The two looked at each with equal expressions of confusion.

_"I didn't think leaves were conscious."_

"Me neither." Jackie looked at it to make she had read it correctly. "I'm going to have to ask him about this."

_"Or maybe ask someone like Stephen, he might know something about this."_ Taboo yawned and stood up, shaking herself off. _"Since he has a different power and all."_

Jackie 'hmmed' and got back to reading, storing this away for later.

* * *

She didn't see Jack before the next Workshop, and ended up glancing over at Stephen more than she probably would have normally, the leaf thing still in her head.

Stephen did notice, and was a little confused. Was Jackie distracted due to the Head thing? Still didn't make sense, even though Alfred's death had hit everyone hard. Maybe she thought he was a better candidate? Now that was just egotistical.

When everyone had a break Stephen went over to ask Jackie what was going on.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, having to 'look' down at Jackie due to his taller stature.

"Fine Stephen." Jackie sighed.

"Are you sure, I mean, Alfred..."

Jackie took a deep breath as she felt a stab of emotional pain somewhere in her chest. "Thanks for that Stephen."

Stephen had the good grace to look a little guilty, awkwardly fiddling with his sunglasses. "Sorry"

"It's alright. Anyway, there was something I want to ask you." Jackie was fully aware of how weird this was going to come out. "Have you ever, talked to, leaves?"

Jackie fully expected Stephen to laugh, but instead, he looked thoughtful.

"Talked to leaves... No, but I have heard them, I guess you haven't."

"No, I wasn't aware leaves were conscious."

"I'm not sure, but I do hear them whispering, especially on a windy day."

"Have you ever actually tried to talk to them?"

"They don't stand still long enough." Stephen shrugged. "I mostly catch a bit of a conversation before they move on again."

Jackie wasn't quite sure what to make of this conversation. "Can Rachel hear them too?"

Stephen thought for a second. "I think so, I've never really asked, but she's stopped to listen the same times I do. I did assume that we all heard them, but that doesn't seem to be the case," he sounded a little sad at that.

"I'd never even heard of this until a few days ago." Jackie admitted. "How about we get Rachel over?"

Stephen just shrugged and Jackie waved Rachel over. The sixty odd year old woman jogged over, her greying hair tied back in a bun.

"Yes Jackie? What's the matter?"

"Can you hear leaves talking, or talk to them?" Jackie asked.

"I can hear them, never tried to talking to them." Rachel replied. "And I know why you're asking, Alice can't, so I assume this is an air using only ability."

"Succinctly sums it up." Stephen noted.

"So, that's it?" Jackie asked, looking between the two older Descendants.

"Afraid so. Just glad to know I'm not nuts." Rachel added. "Are we done?"

"Should be, there's not much interesting about this." Stephen shrugged. "Sorry Jackie, but we can't really make this exciting."

"It could be, interesting at least, if you ever managed to talk to them."

"I wouldn't hold your breath," said Rachel dismissively, while Stephen looked thoughtful.

"I'll think about it, although I'm not seeing anything useful coming out of it. We can't control the wind itself, so using leaves as a method of communication is dodgy at best."

Jackie nodded silently and couldn't help but smirk slightly. It was good to know that she and Stephen were on the same wavelength.

"Alright, keep thinking on it though." Jackie advised, and Stephen nodded. "Now, let's just everyone back together and get back to work."

"On it."

* * *

**So this one if a long time coming, partially from a post a year ago on William Joyce's instagram and something that PuellaPulchra mentioned to me, also a while ago. I did also have a hard time making this interesting, and I'm not sure I succeeded, since this power was always going to be more low key than Jack's command over them.**  
**In truth, Stephen and Rachel could talk to them if they wanted to, but in comparison to what their main power can do, they never really bothered to explore this aspect of their powers. Not to mention, Stephen's got a point, they can manipulate air, but actually controlling the wind is beyond them, so communicating with leaves, especially over long distances, is iffy at best.**


	98. Leaves Part 2

**I never had plans to follow up on this, but PuellaPulchra sparked my imagination and here we are.**

* * *

Stephen sat on a park bench near his home, half paying attention to the air currents as they wafted around him. He could sense the solid objects around him this way, other benches, trees, passersby. If he really concentrated he could see the individual blades of grass.

Leaves swirled around him in the mid autumn air, along with cooler air than what was currently around him, much to his relief. He heard the leaves whisper and chatter as they went past, but with people around he didn't attempt conversation.

Once the park was empty, Stephen started to talk.

"Hello, excuse me-" the leaves all swept by, still chattering to themselves.

"If you would just stop for a moment..."

Still nothing.

"I am talking to you leaves, there's no one else here."

The leaves paused for just less than a second, but the wind quickly carried them off again. With the next lot Stephen twirled his finger, isolating the air current and circling it around. He continued moving his hand to maintain the circular current, having caught a few leaves in his current.

"Can I talk to you?"

The leaves let out a loud chorus of their conversation, as well as expressing their displeasure of going round and round in circles.

Stephen struggled to piece together what they were all saying in the clamour. He was certain that he caught 'I feel sick!' in there, but other than the odd disjointed word, he was getting nowhere.

To save himself a headache, and wrist cramp, Stephen let them go, and he could hear them from the other side of the park as they flew away.

He sighed and leaned back on the bench, allowing his arms to drape along the back. He tilted his head further back so it was dangling over the back of the bench, which he was really too tall for.

He let out a long sigh in a puff of air; so the first attempt had gone badly. There was always another time. They probably just weren't used to Descendants trying to flag them down.

His brown hair was ruffled in a new breeze and his wind sense alerted him to a fresh stream of leaves. The new set of leaves went straight past his nose and swirled in a rough, lazy circle in front of his face.

"You could have handled that better," said a squeaky voice, that appeared to be coming from one of the leaves.

"Well, they weren't going to stop." Stephen commented, raising his eyebrow at the talking leaf. This was a first.

"Nice try though." The leaf sounded like it might have winked, but Stephen wasn't going to be able to tell. "I'll see if I can get some more conversation partners for you. You're one of Jack's, right?"

"That obvious?"

"Tall, dark hair, air powers, can hear what I'm saying. Pretty obvious big guy."

Stephen 'hmmed' and tilted his head to the side before centring it again in a form of agreement.

The leaf giggled and floated forward, tickling his nose for a second before floating back. "Well done for trying though. See you!" the air current dispersed and the leaves disappeared.

Stephen sat up properly, and after a few seconds, frowned.

"Did a leaf just _flirt_ with me?"

* * *

**That last line might be one of the strangest I've ever written. The leaf probably wasn't actually flirting with him, it was just having a little fun and taking a liking to someone who was actually trying to talk to them, since I would guess that Jack is only one who does, or can.  
**  
**I still don't think that using leaves to surveillance and as a method of communication would be a great idea, as they will probably move on too quickly, and only a few people would be able to understand them.**


	99. Clearing the Air

**As a note, this takes place on the same day as 'Prank'**

**Also, I said in a response to my last chapter to PuellaPulchra that this might take a few days to get out *nervous laughter*  
Real life happened, and I'm actually putting off real life right now, so please enjoy my efforts of procrastination!**

* * *

Jackie had trouble stifling a yawn as the meeting with the Guardians came to a close. Not that she was bored, and the earlier prank had both woken her up and allowed her to relax a bit more around the Guardians. Trouble was that, once again, she'd spent the night before preparing for this, and she was sleep deprived.

Fortunately for her dignity though, the Sandman was also asleep.

The meeting wrapped up, and the Sandman woke up long enough to leave, before probably falling asleep again, causing Jackie to smirk slightly. Good to know she wasn't the only one sleep deprived. Although, the Sandman just appeared to be narcoleptic naturally, so maybe not.

"So, the mischief wears off and yer just as bad as Sandy?" Bunnymund still seemed to be hanging around.

"He's actually asleep." Jackie pointed out.

"You you look like ya will be in a few minutes."

Jackie opened her mouth to defend herself, but a yawn wormed its way out instead.

She sighed irritably while she heard Taboo laugh and Bunnymund seemed to be snickering behind his paw.

"Yes, I'm tired, I'm sure that's hilarious." Jackie was not amused.

_"She admitted it! She actually admitted it!"_ Taboo cried and Jackie was trying very hard to not to glare at her too hard.

She did raise her eyebrows at Bunnymund's snickering though.

"What?" he asked when he saw her look.

"Bit odd to see, I guess." Jackie shrugged.

"What, I can't laugh?"

"You've never done it around me, I don't think."

"You're usually not that funny."

"Thanks," her eyebrows couldn't go much higher on her forehead. "That's probably because usually when we see each other it's business."

"Officially, yeah, but seriously? I thought ya knew this is a relaxed affair?" as if to illustrate his point, Bunnymund leaned against the wall.

"Casual business." Jackie shrugged. Bunnymund shook his head in response.

"Sure kid."

Jackie didn't dispute the term 'kid', since Bunnymund had quite a few millennia on her.

"I know everyone here is friendly enough, but, again business."

"Interestin' way of puttin' it. I thought you were aimin' for somethin' more of a partnership?"

"That's the end goal, but I know that might take a while."

"Might happen quicker than ya think. Jack obviously likes ya, I hear ya're getting on better with Tooth. North likes everyone, as does Sandy."

"What about you then?"

Bunnymund shrugged and didn't say anything.

"That's it?"

Bunnymund shrugged again and looked away.

"Riveting response." Jackie paused for a second. "Doesn't surprise me actually. I don't think you like any Descendant, do you?"

"Where'd you get that idea?" Bunnymund asked, a little defensively in Jackie's opinion as his head shot around to look at her again.

"Well, you're aloof anyway, but whenever you interact with Descendants, you seem to have little tics. Slight movements, minuscule flinches, usually around your Descendants-"

Bunnymund let out a soft noise that clearly he thought only he could hear, however it did make Jackie pause.

"...and noises like that don't help your case."

Bunnymund let out an irritated sigh and shook his head.

"Look, it's just..." he sighed again.

"Just what?" Jackie's tiredness was forgotten, as her curiosity was fully piqued.

"They're not Pookas! They look nothing like Pookas, they don't act like Pookas and the certainly don't embody the culture!" Bunnymund was moving as he talked, pacing and waving his arms to demonstrate his point.

"Yes..." Jackie wasn't sure what the problem was. "Why, you expect them to?"

"Well they are 'my Descendants', so they've got to be related to Pookas in some manner!"

Now Jackie got it.

"Okay, 'Descendants' is used as a catch-all term."

Bunnymund paused in a his pacing and turned to face her. "What?"

"Exactly what I said. Descendants is an easy word to use, but any immortal who came from the Golden Age, you, Sandman, Mother Nature, Pitch etc, are not actually related to their Descendants. It's just easier to call them that."

"So, why _are_ they my Descendants?"

"The story is a little muddy, but the general idea is that, after you had changed the Earth's shape from an egg shape to an oblate spheroid, you left at least one pocket of magic, presumably by accident."

Judging the look on Bunnymund's face, it was accidental.

"We're only certain of one, which was somewhere in Australia and was discovered by an unknown number of humans. Exactly when is also unknown, but the potential is there for this to have happened roughly 50,000 years ago, which would make them the oldest Descendants."

"When the first humans came to Australia," noted Bunnymund ,and Jackie nodded.

"Pretty much, but I couldn't say for certain. Anyway, the story goes on to say that these humans came across this pocket of magic, exactly what it looked like no one can agree on. Some say glowing rock, some say flower, some say it was a magical looking bubble.

"And the humans, being the intelligent species that we are, touched it. Once again the stories differ. All describe a flow of energy, then some say there was a sudden flood of ethereal rabbits, not present in Australia until a few hundred years ago. Some say the moon shone on them, although it was daytime and they were in a cave. Finally some say they saw a ghostly Pooka, whether it said anything I have no idea. After that, they all had powers.

"They eventually learned of your presence and of other Descendants, and coined the name 'Descendants of Bunnymund' because you're the closest immortal they've got. And also because no other Descendant group had claimed that title."

Jackie looked at Bunnymund, who looked a mix of contemplative and stunned.

"So, that's that." Jackie finished, shrugging.

"How did I not know this?" Bunnymund grumbled, more to himself but Jackie still answered.

"Let's see, you were a recluse for millennia and you probably assumed once you heard the name."

"I still watched things."

"Were you really all that interested in what humans were doing after the fall of Atlantis?"

"...Not before I became a Guardian. No. But this could have happened before that."

"True, but no one knows for certain, and would you have been all that interesting in a group of humans disappearing off into the Outback?"

"It happened a lot, for reasons I didn't care about."

"Well, there you go."

Bunnymund stood there with his arms folded, still in thought.

"...So I've just been ignoring these people, for no real reason?"

"I wouldn't worry about it, since that sums most immortals response to Descendants."

" 'Cept Jack."

"I think you can end a lot of immortal stereotypes with 'except Jack'"

Bunnymund chuckled. "I agree with ya there."

"So, don't worry about it. I bet you, your Descendants probably haven't noticed, or if they have, probably don't mind too much."

Bunnymund shot her a disbelieving look.

"You normally come across as aloof, they've probably just put it to that," now that this was over, Jackie could feel tiredness creeping up on her again.

_"Well, this has been a lovely revelation, but I think I need to make sure Jackie doesn't end up having an unplanned sleepover here."_ Taboo shook herself off as she stood up.

"Thanks Taboo." Jackie failed to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

_"You're welcome."_

"Ya better be off." Bunnymund had found an egg in his bandolier and was turning it over in his paw. "See ya in the Warren for the Spring Equinox."

"See you then." Jackie left the room, as she preferred to not Smoke in and out of the meeting room.

When she was gone Bunnymund had an odd look on his face as he looked at the ice blue and navy egg in his paw.

"Yer a weird one alright."

* * *

**Jackie and Bunny have always had a weird relationship, partially due to what was cleared up here, Bunny's own perception on Descendants, with the perception he had on his own Descendants colouring how he saw the rest of them. It was also down to Jackie's own wariness, as she saw Bunny as somewhat unpredictable with a long history. She also feels similarly about Sandy, but he's more friendly in general. However, even before this they did respect each other and what they did in their parts of this world.**

**Now, the egg thing at the end. Each Guardian recognises that when it comes to Jackie, her light went out too soon, and Descendant or not, they should have done something. This all happened several years before Jack became a Guardian however, when the Guardians weren't interacting directly with children anymore, so it would have been difficult for them to have known then. Although, I imagine it wouldn't stop them feeling bad about it, as well as anyone else that had their light go out early.  
The egg is a reference to a much earlier one shot called 'Easter Egg'. That had been Bunny's attempt in a way to make up for the light thing just mentioned. Also she's a Descendant, so it was also a case of 'oh, she'll get it somehow'. He will probably never know that Jackie thought it was Billy, and she'll probably never know that it was Bunny, because they are both too proud to ever bring that up.**

**Finally, 99th chapter on HOG Files. Wooooooooo!**

**I'm going to have to think of something special for number 100...**


	100. Wedding Mini Series Part 1

**You can blame MIMitationBalance for this**

It still hadn't quite registered, despite the new weight on my finger. Jamie had proposed, and I said yes.

It hadn't been big and grand, which I'm glad about, it was in fact just after practice. He'd fumbled in his pocket for a bit, dropped on one knee, and then I think he said something. I think my brain blue screened for a few minutes before I said anything.

I think then that Tina made noise so high pitched that my ears couldn't quite register it. It was an excited squeal/squeak and nearly made Taboo look around for a mouse.

Then the ring was on my finger and Jamie and I were walking home in a daze, Taboo silently grinning on my shoulder. I think he was still recovering from asking me. The fiancé going silent and stock still for several minutes I don't think is how it usually goes, and must have scared him silly.

We got back and sat on the couch in unison. Taboo jumped off and left the room to doze somewhere.

"So..." Jamie started.

"So." I wasn't really sure what to say.

"Have you recovered yet?"

"I don't know..." I leaned back and stared at the ring. It was a single band ring with silver and blue with a pale blue gem, not sticking out, just, in between where the two colours met.

"It's a sapphire."

"How did you even afford this?" probably not the best question to ask, but it was the first one in my head.

"A little money saved up, your parents insisted on chipping in, as did my mom."

"You actually asked permission?"

"Yeah." Jamie chuckled sheepishly. "Thought I'd better do it properly, I think I went overboard though."

"How?"

_"He asked me."_ Taboo piped up from the hallway. I stared roughly at her position, then at Jamie, who nodded.

"Yeah, Taboo, your dad, Jack."

"You asked Jack? Why?"

"Well, I thought he'd want to know. And he's your great something uncle right? So, I thought it was good idea."

I just kept staring, asking myself the same questions I'd been asking myself all afternoon. Why, and how? How did I get this guy? Why did he fall in love with me? There was nothing logical about it, but I guess that's how it goes, logic doesn't fit into love.

"So, marriage huh?" I asked, the idea still not sinking in.

"Yep." Jamie said. "Let's leave it 'till tomorrow."

"Agreed." I leaned my head on his shoulder, and he rested his head on mine. We stayed like that until it got dark.

* * *

Next day wasn't quite so calm.

Tina called me over to hers, with Sally, and we sat down for a wedding talk.

"So, do you know who you're inviting yet?" she asked, her face lit up at the prospect of another wedding. This was probably the third in the Branch, Billy had his a year ago to Sophia, Tina a few years ago to Michael, and I'd already been to another recently, Mary, a fellow Descendant of Jack Frost.

"Um... Maybe-"

I was interrupted as Tina got talking.

"No! When it's going to be is the most important, and the venue, and the dress. Catering, can't forget food. Needs to be quite a few months from now so people can clear their calendars. The dress! That's a big one, and the bridesmaids. Best man and groomsmen can left to Jamie, it's his day as much as yours. Seating plan, last thing you want is an argument on your big day. The dress! The bridesmaids have to match as well, are you going to have a flowergirl?"

As she said all of this I started sinking further and further into my seat as what I'd just gotten myself into washed over my head. What the hell had I been thinking? There's so much to organise, and it all boiled down to one single piece of paper!

"What about a registry office?" I asked, and I could sense Taboo's approval.

"No! That will not do!" Tina reprimanded me. "You're a Head, it needs to be grand!"

"I can't afford grand."

"We'll help." Tina was staring at me. "This needs to be BIG!" she spread her arms to emphasise the point.

I swallowed.

"Tina, you're freaking her out." Sally said calmly. "It's her wedding, let her think about it. If she wants to have it at the registry office, then she can talk about it with Jamie."

Tina managed to calm herself down.

"Yes, of course, but, still! There's so much to plan, there are some things you can't skimp on!"

_Oh moon help me._ I thought, sinking further into the chair.

_"I think you'll need more than the moon."_

"Tina, she got engaged yesterday afternoon. She doesn't need to know every little detail now."

"No, but she needs to think about these things."

I couldn't take it anymore.

"Thank you for your help, I need to clear my head." I managed to get past them and out the door. Thankfully Sally didn't use her sand as I left. I strode towards the lake, hands shoved into my pockets and head spinning.

_"Oh thank goodness, that was getting too much."_ Taboo mirrored my thoughts.

The early spring sunshine didn't raise the temperature much, so there was still some ice on the lake as I sat next to it. The calmness of the area settled my nerves. As Sally said, these things didn't have to happen at once, one step at a time.

I sat crosslegged on the shore and closed my eyes, focusing on breathing and the snow around me, feeling my awareness seep into it. I was greeted by the sudden burst of awareness as information from the snow flooded my mind. As always it was accompanied by a calmness, and the sensation of time slowing. Things happened when they happened, nothing needed to be rushed.

**So, this had been a long time coming. There are actually two versions, one if 1st Person that's just HOGverse, and one that's in 3rd Person that's HOG/Mimpossibleverse. As you've probably guessed, this is the former. I decided to put this version on here because I don't have as much content referring to Mimpossible on here, whereas on DeviantArt I have a lot more related to Mimpossible, so it makes sense to put the Mimpossible version there.**

**I'd love to leave a link to the alternate version, because there will be some differences beyond the narrative POV, but we all know how is with links. So, if you type 'HOG/Mimpossible Wedding' into Deviantart search, you should find it. My username is the same there as it is here.**

**Final thing of note. Given the length of this mini series, I will be updating every Monday and Thursday.**


	101. Wedding Mini Series Part 2

"Well, first we need to know who to invite." Jamie sat at our kitchen table with a piece of paper in front of him.

I sat opposite and tapped my fingers against the wood, Tina's words from the other day still ingrained in my head.

"The Branch."

"Obviously." Jamie smiled as he wrote it down. "What about the guys? You Pippa, Cupcake, Monty Claude and Caleb?"

"Of course, they're your old friends."

"Your friends too." he added as he wrote them in.

"Yeah, but they've known you longer. Anyway, I think our parents would be upset if we left them out."

"True." Jamie jotted them down. "And Sophie."

"Moon forbid we leave her out." I smiled and tapped my fingers again. "What about other family? They'll probably want to be there."

"Aunts and uncles? I guess, don't some of yours live in the UK?"

"On my dad's side. Can't really leave them out, give my dad a chance to see them."

Jamie put down a few more names.

"Speaking of family, should we invite Jack?"

That threw me. "I, don't know. A lot of people won't be able to see him."

"Wouldn't be fair to leave him out, he's known us both for years! Maybe we should invite the rest of them!"

"I don't know..." I had nothing against the rest of the Guardians, it's just, they were part of my work, HOG life, and, having them at my wedding seemed, odd.

"They're busy people." I excused. "Do you think they'll have time? Putting aside a whole day for a mortal wedding where most of the guests can't see them."

"If we invite some of your HOG guys, they'll have someone to talk to." Jamie argued. "If we're inviting Jack, it's only polite, besides, think of how funny it will be to see people so confused!"

"Not sure on funny, and I don't think they'll like being walked through."

"It will be though!" Jamie insisted. "Look, we can just invite them to be polite, if they turn it down, then we can say that we tried."

"You're not going to back down on this, are you?"

Jamie shook his head.

"Okay, we'll put them down for now. We can go over this again once the date and venue is decided."

Jamie just hmmed as he wrote them down. "So, who from HOG will you invite?"

I didn't need to think. "Alice, Mary, Stephen, Chris, the Becks, Rachel and Graham." I knew there were more Descendants of Jack Frost now, and the other Heads, but I still felt that those Descendants were the ones I was closest with. They'd been there since the beginning.

"Comic book guy?" Jamie asked.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He calls you Lady Deathstrike."

"That's a problem?"

"Isn't that going to freak people out?"

"Oh now you're worried about freaking people out! I can ask him to tone it down."

"He's still a bit weird."

"According to you we're inviting the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost. We passed weird a few miles back."

"...Touché." Jamie wrote the names down.

We talked for a little while more about bridesmaids and groomsmen, but eventually decided to call it a night, none of this was set in stone.

* * *

A Workshop I'd almost completely forgotten about appeared about a day later, and I was rushing around with the session plan and trying to look half respectable as I ran for the Tunnel.

Once there at the loch that Alfred often had his Workshops at I got them into several groups, some sparring on the frozen loch while watching some go through the Bergland forms out of the corner of my eye while teaching some of the younger ones the basics.

Taboo was watching the sparrers while I made Rachel, Stephen, Chris and Mary switch around with supervising the forms. Every half an hour or so the two groups would swap over, then we had a mass combat match on the ice in pairs.

The hours went by quickly and it was over. As I was making sure everyone was getting home I was approached by Mary.

"Nice ring." she said, bobbing her blonde head down, her bob hair cut bouncing. "Is it what I think it is?"

"Probably." I fiddled with it.

"Can I make a few suggestions then?"

"Not you too." I groaned. "Everyone's had something to say."

Mary completely ignored that. "It should be at least somewhat grand, if not, the reception should be, and I'd recommend two, one for your normal guests, then one later down at HOG. Trust me, trying to hide yourself during your big day is hard."

"Doesn't have to be a big day." I argued. "It's a piece of paper getting signed."

"Everyone expects something big, or at least some kind of ceremony, who are you to disappoint them?" Mary had a smirk as she continued. "Also, I'd recommend outdoors. Imagine being in a hot room for ages with all those people watching you." she answered my unspoken question.

A shiver went down my spine. "Good point."

"And finally, white confetti for when you and your fiancé kiss."

"Why?" my mind was a bit frazzled from managing the Workshop.

"You kiss, your emotions are all over the place, power goes nuts. It happens with me as well." she assured. "If there's white confetti timed to go when you two kiss, it'll hide the snow."

I nodded, then gave her a side look. "This is from personal experience isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'll see you there."

Mary made to leave, but stopped and turned back around. "Was that an invitation?"

"An informal one, but yes."

Mary smiled. "See you indeed."

* * *

I looked at the stack of returned invitations in front of me, not quite sure what to think. Specifically the five in front of me.

"They all said yes." I said, stunned. North and Toothiana had sent wordy response, while Bunnymund, Jack and Sandman had sent short responses with various degrees of excitement.

"Yeah! Isn't it great?" at least Jamie was excited.

"Yeeeaah."

"Hey, come on, they're taking time out for this." Jamie's smile hadn't diminished. "And we'll have legends at _our_ wedding!"

"I suppose that is cool." I was still nervous about the idea. "I just guess they'll have to get their own table so no one sits in them."

"That would be funny."

"Yeah, later, and not for them." We retained serious expressions for a few seconds, before turning and snorting with laughter.

"Okay, yeah, that would be funny, but we shouldn't do that to them."

"No, but it will happen, or something like that will happen."

"Let's leave that to be spontaneous."

"Agreed, funnier that way."

**Here we go, a different scene from the Mimpossible one!**

**DA search: HOG/Mimpossible Mini Series Wedding Part 2**


	102. Wedding Mini Series Part 3

"Jackie?" I thought I heard Jamie ask, but I wasn't focusing on him. I was instead pacing around the lounge of our flat, facts and figures from HOG's Easter event, general working, the upcoming meeting with the Guardians and the wedding prep that was still going on.

Sheets of paper relating to this was piled high on the coffee table, but all this was starting to drive me mad! I couldn't think straight and my brain felt like it had been put through a mangle, but I couldn't stop!

"Jackie, breathe, sit down..."

I looked up at him and Jamie froze from the expression on my face. He took a step back and looked at Taboo.

"Your turn."

_"Errrr."_ I could feel Taboo peering at my current mental state. _"Jackie, I think you need to sit down, maybe sleep for a bit?"_

_I'll sleep when I'm dead._

_"Well, then you won't get married then, will you?" _Taboo snarked. _"At least take a break before you collapse."_

I wasn't quite in control of the irritable growling noise that exited my throat.

Taboo looked over at Jamie and shook her head. He then swallowed.

"I'll go get back up." he muttered, clearly thinking that I couldn't hear him.

With that he disappeared, and I continued to pace. Occasionally I would glance at the papers on the coffee table and instantly regret it and they would begin to swim in my mind's eye. Taboo had a point, sleeping would be great, but my brain was so full of stuff with a deadline I think I would only sleep when I collapsed of exhaustion.

I glimpsed a trail of gold float into the room. That would work too.

Sally came in and sent a small wisp of sand towards me, and I instantly felt relaxed, and felt a little sleepy.

I finally sat down on the sofa and Sally sat beside me as I yawned.

"Thanks." I said, before glaring at the piles of paper. "I really want to kick that coffee table over."

"Is Tina pressuring you about the dress?"

"She's trying, but I've got other things going on, besides, isn't a bit far away from the actual day to get the dress?"

"You are unlikely to have any large changes in weight and shape, and it might be a good idea to get it out of the way." Sally fixed her gaze on me, blue eyes appearing to see into my soul, which did make me uncomfortable. "I will talk to Tina to get her calm down, and maybe sort out the dress after Easter?"

Simple advice, that I should have been able to come up with. I must have been more sleep deprived than normal.

"Alright, thanks." _One step at a time Jackie._ I told myself. _One step at a time._

* * *

Around May time I was walking back from the bookshop. It was a cool day, so I wasn't cranky, thankfully. So when I saw the guy sitting outside the door to the apartment building, I wasn't going to bite head off.

He was about Jamie's age and a bit taller than him with a stockier frame. He had close cropped blonde hair and an, unfortunate nose. I did wonder if Gonzo was his dad, but quickly crushed the thought, that was hardly fair.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I walked over, feeling like I should recognise him.

"I'm waiting for Jamie." he responded, and a light bulb went off in my brain.

"Ah! You must be one of Jamie's college friends." I fished around for his name. "Er, Tim, wasn't it? Thought I'd seen you before. Come in and I'll give him a call."

"Thanks," Tim got up as I unlocked the door, "almost didn't recognise you."

"Being sober would do that." I said dryly, recognising him from the college parties that Jamie had dragged me too. He got drunk very easily.

"Oh, right."

I started up the stairs when I noticed that Tim wasn't behind me.

"Aren't we going to take the elevator?"

"Don't trust it. Don't worry, it's only nine flights."

Tim laughed nervously, but still followed me up the stairs. I looked behind me when we got to the top to see that Tim was dragging himself up the stairs via the banister, red faced and sweating.

_Seriously?_ I thought. _There aren't that many stairs..._

I shook my head and got the door open and went to get a glass of water for Jamie's friend before he collapsed.

He fell onto the couch as I passed him a glass of water, then I gave Jamie a call.

"Jamie, have you lost something?" I asked.

"If you mean someone, yeah. I think Tim's around and I asked him to be my normal best man, but I can't find him anywhere!"

"Where are you?"

"Centre, why?"

"He's at the apartment."

Jamie cursed, and I could almost see him running a hand through his hair, which was probably already pretty messy by now. "How long's he been there?"

"Hard to say, just get back here and you two can finally talk. If he's able."

"You took him up the stairs didn't you?"

"Yeah. Why, what's the issue with that?"

"Not everyone can handle that."

"Nonsense, I gave him some exercise, that's all."

Jamie sighed, and I got the unerring feeling that I'd said something off. "What?"

"Never mind." it sounded like Jamie was struggling not to laugh. "Just keep him there and try not to give him any more, exercise."

"What…?" Jamie had hung up before he answered. I just shook my head and decided to relax, getting a book off the shelf and reading it. It was so rare that I got to relax these days, and I was determined to make the most of it.

Jamie came running up the stairs, fringe plastered to his forehead as he barrelled through the door.

"There you are!" he cried, sounding relieved and a little frustrated.

"I thought I'd wait for you." Tim shrugged, sitting on the couch.

"I've been all around Burgess looking for you!" Jamie panted, and Tim looked a bit confused.

"Sorry, I was just here. You gave me two addresses, remember?"

"I might have been drunk." Jamie admitted, and I snorted with laughter. "Just because you don't like it!" he said to me.

"I like being in full mental capacity and not waking up with a headache and not quite remembering the night before." I responded in a deadpan manner without looking up from my book. "But by all means, if you want to do that to yourself, don't let me stop you."

Deciding to give them some space I got up from the sofa and went to read elsewhere.

"I'll leave you two to discuss."

* * *

"So, how's my darling brother and sister to be?" Sophie said somewhat sarcastically and far too loudly as she bounced into the flat.

I groaned on the couch and rolled over so I didn't have face her energy. It was July, and the air conditioning wasn't helping me much. I had managed to move out of the bedroom to the lounge in an attempt to get some work done, then Sophie came over.

"I'm fine Soph." I heard Jamie say, a smile in her voice. "Jackie's, errr..."

"Not coping with the heat?" Sophie responded. I'd never told her about my powers or relation, but she at least knew that I was colder than everyone else. I usually explained it now by saying I had a 'condition', which wasn't that far from the truth.

"So, who's on the guest list?" Sophie was being nosy and I heard riffling through some paper.

"Soph!" Jamie seemed to be trying to stop her, I just blocked out the sibling banter and arguing. The heat alone already had my head aching.

"Aha!" Sophie seemed to have found something. "So, Bunny's coming?"

"I-I, didn't think you still believed." Jamie stammered, and I had to agree.

"Well, with Jackie, how could I not?"

I froze, and then rolled over to look at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you're related to Jack Frost aren't you?"

"Where did you hear something like that?" I asked, trying to pass it off humorously, but I probably just sounded tired.

"I think Jamie told me, ages ago."

I stopped paying attention as she said Jamie, and turned my gaze to my fiancé, who was looking everywhere except me.

"Jamie, can I have a word, in private?" I asked in a monotone to hide how annoyed I was. "Now."

Jamie left the room, and I followed him to the bedroom, where I shut the door. It was much colder in here, with blocks of ice placed at random spots on the floor and ceiling. Taboo was lying on the bed where a fan was blowing cold air on her.

"When was this, and why didn't you tell me?" I asked through gritted teeth, and Jamie gulped.

"Um, must have been when we were kids, I didn't think she'd remember!"

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"Erm..."

"Jamie Bennett..." I growled.

"I didn't think she'd remember, I swear! She must have been five or so."

I let out a long, irritated sigh. "So, around the same time as the whole thing Lupine?" That had been the year that Jamie turned 14 and Sophie turned 6, but if I remembered correctly it happened not long before Jamie's birthday.

"I guess, I really wasn't thinking straight then." Jamie ran a hand through his hair. "Jackie, I'm sorry. I completely forgot about it." he suddenly snapped his fingers. "Hold on, she was at the lake after the whole thing with Melbourne, you showed off your powers then. Why didn't you say anything then!?"

"I must have been too tired to question it." I massaged the bridge of my nose with my finger and thumb. "Whatever, let's see how much she knows." I was dreading going back out into the hot flat, so I grabbed a frost covered blanket and wrapped it around myself before we headed back out.

"So, Sophie, how much did Jamie tell you?"

The twenty year old pulled a face to think. "Well, I was little, but he said something about you being Jack's niece and you saved with the same powers, or something like that. I remember asking Bunny, and I think he confirmed it."

"You asked Bunnymund?" I asked.

"Yeah, he used to see me when I was little, he doesn't do it so often anymore though. Which makes me glad that he's coming to the wedding!"

"So, that's all you know about it?" I asked.

"Yeah, well, obviously you're not actually his niece, Jack's old and I've met your parents, but you're obviously related."

I let out a sigh, so it could have been worse. It was no more than the rest of the Burgess gang knew.

"Also, I did see your demonstration a few years ago, and it fell in line with what Jamie told me. I guess the other guy who showed up was like you?" she asked.

"Yeah, kind of. Can't say any more than that."

"Alright." Sophie let out a good natured shrug. "Can't wait to see Bunny again though. He was so sweet."

Thoughts of when I'd seen him and the word 'sweet' floated through my head. The two didn't match up.

"Now that's cleared up." Jamie said a little hurriedly. "Why don't you go back to bed Jackie, you really don't look great."

I did not have the energy to argue anymore, so just went back to bed like he said.

**Well, that's quite a conversation to have with your soon to be sister in law.**

**It admittedly only recently occurred to me that Sophie is in an odd position, given how young she was during the events of Rise of the Guardians she would have been, not forgotten about, but not really considered needing to forget about that whole thing. Plus Bunnymund seemed to have a soft spot for her and no one was going to provoke him! Therefore, no one expected her to remember, but she does and Jackie's too stressed to bring it up at HOG (well, that's the excuse if anyone from HOG finds out anyway)**

**HOG/Mimpossible Wedding Mini Series Part 3**


	103. Wedding Mini Series Part 4

"What do you mean you can't be here?!" I hissed down the phone at a frantic Tina.

_"I'm sorry, something's come up with my parents, I don't know how long it will take."_ in the background I hear Tina packing as she talked.

"I need you!" despite the initially terrifying opening, I'd come to rely on Tina to help with organising everything.

_"I'll send you a list of things that need doing, I'll be back on the day, I promise. You'll be fine!" _

"Fine!? I have no idea what I'm doing!"

_"Calm down, most of this is already done, you just have make it sure it comes together, easy. I have to go!"_

She hung up and I put the phone down. The wedding was a week away, one week. Surely not much can go wrong.

As if on cue, the phone rang. I frowned and picked off my desk from on top of the various pieces of paper on my desk. Alice was on the caller ID.

"What's up Alice?"

_"Er, you're not going to believe this."_

"Don't tell me you can't make it."

_"No, I can make it, but, erm."_

"What's happened?" I asked, feeling resigned to the news.

_"Okay, so, I was showing the bridesmaid dress to my flatmate as she's making dinner."_

_This doesn't sound good._ I thought.

_"And moved her hand down on the knife handle and it flew off! Like, Loony Toon physics, it hit everything wildly, and then landed on the dress..."_

"Point down?"

_"Covered in tomatoes as well."_

I couldn't help it, I just started laughing. I might have been going mad.

"You've stabbed your dress, and now it looked like it's bleeding?"

_"I've murdered my dress!"_ Alice cried, laughing as well. _"It's a crime against fashion!"_

We giggled to ourselves until I managed to get into my Head mindset.

"Okay, see if you can fix it and get it to the dry cleaners, or get back here and we'll see about another one."

_"Will do, I'll try not to murder it this time!"_

"Good, Tina is the fashion police."

_"So's my mum."_

I think we shuddered simultaneously.

"We shall endeavour not to get arrested."

_"Yes boss, how many shall I silence to ensure this?"_

"We'll leave it at the dress for now, but should anything else occur, eliminate any witnesses."

_"Yes sir!"_ she hung up and I let out a sigh, good mood fading, maybe that will be the end of it.

* * *

That lasted until I heard a small boom from the lounge the next morning.

Taboo and I were up instantly and running to see smoke poured out of our (well, Jamie's, mine broke years ago) stereo, and Jamie was kneeling in front of it in his pyjamas.

"Do I want to know?" I asked as Taboo shook her head blearily, we were going to use that for the wedding.

"I can fix it, just give me a minute."

"It's got smoke pouring out of it."

"I've got it!" he insisted. This whole thing was getting us both stressed. I dreaded to think how the groomsmen planning was going.

A second later one of the buttons on the stereo popped off and hit him on the forehead. He sprung to his feet, dropping the screwdriver and cursing, rubbing his forehead all the while. I just looked at the growing red patch on his forehead and waited for his cursing to calm down.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

He swore at me as well. Explicitly.

Taboo growled at him, but I was calm, even slightly amused. "I'm sure you'd have a great time doing that until I froze something."

Jamie snorted and then doubled over laughing. After a good minute he managed to stop and look at me. "Do you know what you said?"

"Yes." I said, "it's probably on our mom's minds, so..."

"You never make those jokes."

"We're getting married in less than a week, I'm in a weird mood."

"Don't remind me-"

"Having second thoughts already?"

"No, it's the bloody stereo. Why did it have to blow out now?"

I crouched down as he prepared to attack it with the screwdriver again.

"Look, my parents have got one, we can ask them if we can borrow it. Adding repairing this to the list while we're bankrupt won't help."

"I know, it's just piling up."

"Well, if we manage not to kill anyone until after the honeymoon then we'll be fine."

We both started chuckling as the stereo began to release less smoke. Taboo was still at a wary distance.

"Or each other." Jamie added, still laughing.

"Statistically, we are the most likely people to kill each other."

Jamie snorted. "Oh god that's morbid."

"You did know who were asking to marry right?"

"True." We chuckled again.

"Let's leave the stereo, it'll run out of smoke eventually." I wasn't too comfortable with a potential fire hazard around, but Taboo and I are sensitive enough to heat that we'd notice pretty quickly.

"I could make toast on it." Jamie mused.

"You do that, let me know how it goes." I went to go get my cereal and was looking forward to seeing how Jamie was going to toast his breakfast on the stereo.

* * *

"So, can you fix it?" I asked hopefully as Nigel investigated the stereo. It was sat on his work bench, surrounded by half finished projects, nuts, bolts and various tools.

"It's kaput." Nigel declared, tapping the plastic exterior. "Dead as a doornail."

"There's nothing you can do?"

"Well, there a couple of spells that might do it..." Nigel trailed off when he saw the look on my face. "Jackie, I'm not that bad at magic."

"Um, your track record is, sporadic."

"Fine, if you don't trust me."

"It'll be easier on both of us if I just borrow my parents on the day."

Nigel still had the mock sadness on his face, for an old man he can act so much like a small child at times.

"I'll let you lose on it after the wedding." I said, picking up the stereo protectively. "See you then."

**Admittedly this one is in a similar vein to the first chapter. Damn, there aren't as many differences as I thought. Then again, if I had sat on it longer it would probably have never gotten done.**

**HOGMimpossible Wedding Mini Series Part 4**


	104. Wedding Mini Series Part 5

The day before the big day, and I was staring around at the marquee that had been set up. I was supposed to helping make decisions on things like where the flowers go and specific arrangements.

Instead I stood there like an idiot. This is why I needed Tina, she knows about this sort of thing, I haven't got a clue! Taboo wasn't much help either, she was just as clueless as I was.

As I stood there like an idiot one of the people from the company who set these things up (again, ask Tina) dropped something, causing one of the round tables to topple over.

I watched in slightly horror, mainly amusement as this caused a domino effect, the tables, thankfully not covered in anything, slowly began to fall over in sequence. Everyone else freaked out and ran to stop the tables falling over, but they were all over the place, so when the last table landed right in front of me with a slight wobble, there was silence.

"Well," I mock sighed, "if there's one thing I can actually do, is get these tables back up again. How about I call some backup?"

Enter Rachel and Mary, both of whom had decided to come to Burgess in preparation for tomorrow. The two older Descendants quickly whipped things into shape, and I became the one ordered around as I helped with some of the manual stuff. Arranging the flowers became surprisingly easy once I'd relaxed and gotten into more of an artist's mindset, and by evening, the whole thing was set up for tomorrow. There were a few last minutes things to get ready, but those could naturally wait.

"Nice job. Knew you could do it without me."

"Tina!" I turned on my heel to see the Descendant of Toothiana standing in the entrance. "You're back!"

"Yep, now come on."

"Why?"

"Night before a wedding? Bachelorette party? It's not the whole thing, but me and Sally have something planned."

"If it's what you did on my 21st..."

_"You did not have to remind me of that!"_ Taboo groaned from my shoulder.

"No, it's not. We all learnt our lesson from that. Trust me, you'll love it."

I raised my eyebrows but followed Tina to her car. Sally was already in the passenger seat, so I got in the back.

"So, where are we going? Or are you kidnapping me the night before my wedding."

"We're not stupid enough to try." Sally deadpanned as Tina got in the driver's side. "And if we told you, it would ruin the surprise."

"Surprise huh?" I could see Tina holding in laughter as she started the car. "I thought the plan was laser tag."

_"Why can't I come to that?"_

_Because laser tag staff don't usually cater for telepathic ice tigers. How would you even hold and fire the gun anyway?_

"Oh don't worry." said Tina as Taboo grumbled. "That's still on, we've just got something else planned first. Something smaller and quieter."

That had me intrigued. "Are you sure you can't tell me?"

Sally shook her head. "No."

"What if I guess?"

"Still no." Tina's turn.

I slumped down in my seat. "You guys are no fun." I mock whined.

"You're getting married in the morning, start acting your age." Tina couldn't go one day could she?

I couldn't help feeling the butterflies build up in my stomach at the prospect of, what was happening tomorrow. My first instinct was still to shove it one side and ignore it, but I ignored that instinct and let myself feel it. I was nervous, that's normal, right?

"You've met me right? My mental age flips between 50 and 5."

"And the worst part is I can't disagree."

We drove out of Burgess to the nearest city, the drive taking about half an hour or so.

"I still feel like you guys are kidnapping me." I hadn't been here in a while, everything I needed was in Burgess, except new books, but I rarely had time to read a lot of them these days.

"If we were Sally would've have knocked you out, and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Fair point, unless that's a double bluff."

"Well, we're here, so you can decide for yourself." Tina had pulled up outside an independent bookshop that I'd never seen before. She then turned in her seat to face me, bills in her hand.

"Go nuts." she said, handing them to me. If you don't spend it all, we can go to another shop or you can save it."

I blinked and robotically counted the money.

_"Whoa."_

"This is a hundred dollars." I said, stunned.

"Yep, mine and Sally's wedding gift for you. Nigel and Billy are doing something similar for Jamie as well."

"They say," Sally added, "that this place has books you can't find anywhere else. Even we can't some of this stuff in our shop."

I looked at my two fellow bibliophiles. "What about you two?"

"We'll browse." said Sally. "Reading the blurb is sometimes just as fun as buying."

I had to agree.

"Okay, what are we waiting for?!" I cried, opening the car door.

"Hear hear!" Tina pushed open her door at the same time as Sally. The three of us then stormed the bookshop. They never knew what hit them.

* * *

We left the new books in the trunk of Tina's car (I had a few in there for everyone else, with an extra one each for Tina and Sally, they deserved it) and we went to the laser tag arena, which was in the same city. Taboo wanted to stretch her legs, so opted to run to Sally's place to wait for us, as that was where the final part of the night was going to take place.

This part was with more people, the female Descendants who were coming (hen night remember?), so Alice, Mary, Rachel, Tina and Sally. A small group, but we all had combat experience, which was guaranteed to make things interesting.

"Alright!" Alice shouldered her laser gun. "Let's go kill people!" she then skipped to the arena whistling 'Kill Bill'.

Yep, very interesting.

"You know that you need a sword to kill Bill?" I called after her.

"Are you two aware that this isn't real?" I heard Rachel ask, but I was already chasing Alice. As the two youngest in the party, we could act like it.

"Hey." I caught up with her as we gathered to go in. "Want to team up?"

"Against the OAP's?" Alice asked, her grin as bright as her blue hair. "You're on!"

Said OAPs caught up, and after a quick countdown, we were in!

The arena was quite dark, with different coloured lights in odd spots. It was just one level, and was littered with various barrels and walls at different heights to hide behind.

We quickly split up and scattered, but Alice and I stayed together and hid behind a group of barrels near the centre of the arena.

We didn't have to say what we wanted the other to do, our training was kicking in, despite how fake this was. We faced opposite directions and did I believe Billy calls 'camping'.

We had picked the perfect spot, despite how few of us there were, when we did snipe someone they didn't know where it had come from.

Then, we couldn't find anyone. It was as if everyone had disappeared from the arena.

Alice and I looked at each in confusion, until we heard.

"SURPRISE!"

The other Descendants had surrounded our group of barrels without us realising and were now firing us!

Alice and I let out a war cry each and opened fire on them as well, but very quickly the sensors on our vests showed that we were out of health and had lost.

Next game had us in pairs, then in two teams with a sort of capture the flag thing, then a final free for all!

I'd love to say that I won, I really would. I didn't, I got third. Alice got first, the little psycho, she wouldn't stop gloating all the way back to Sally's, where the final part of the hen night was going to take place, with everyone.

Added to the party was Sophie, Pippa and Cupcake, and we were going to have a movie night, with most of us probably staying over.

We were all in pyjamas and sprawled across the sofa, half eaten by beanbags or sitting on the floor as the nine of us argued about which movie to watch. Taboo had only seen any of these from my memory, so was silently watching in curiosity.

Finally, Sophie pulled out the Frozen box set.

"You've got to be joking." I groaned. I didn't like Frozen, there was nothing inherently bad about it, I just found it annoying, and now it was being waved in my face.

Sophie and Alice grinned at each like Cheshire cats. Those two discovered that they get along _very_ well. "All those in favour?" they asked in unison.

"Of seeing the bride getting annoyed? Aye!" Mary put her hand up, which was quickly followed by Sally and Tina, only Rachel was on my side, but we were outvoted.

"Screw you guys." I groaned as Sophie put the DVD in. I had a feeling I was going to be dreaming about singing snowmen and reindeer tonight.

Once that brand of irritation was over we put on some old Jack Frost inspired cartoons for a laugh, along with 'The Santa Clause 3'. We laughed pretty hard at that, since none of them were accurate. The final thing we watched was Paranorman, a personal favourite of mine. I wouldn't say that I have a favourite movie, I just like this one.

Then at some stupid time in the small hours, we all hit the hay, either spread eagle on the couch, on top of some beanbags or dragging themselves yawning back to where they staying and putting their coats on inside out.

I curled up on the floor with Taboo like a pair of puppies, despite protests from everyone else, and went to sleep pretty easily.

Big day tomorrow.

HOGMimpossible Mini Series Wedding Part 5


	105. Wedding Mini Series Part 6

Nine o'clock the next morning and it was battle stations!

Tina was a miracle worker, making sure everything we hadn't got done yesterday was finished, and all too soon, it was time for me head inside and get prepped. There was one of those big old houses not too far away, and they hosted weddings sometimes, so we having most of it outside, but I needed to head inside the house to get ready.

All of the older Descendants were there, plus Pippa, Cupcake and mom, but it became very clear who was going to be in charge of all this.

Tina wielded the hairbrush like it was deadly weapon and the objects on the table looked more like instruments of torture instead of beauty. All I could think about was finding the nearest exit, all the while calculating the odds of getting past everyone else. It didn't look good.

"Is there no way I can-?"

"No."

"Can you at least look like you're not planning on trying to impale me with a hairbrush?"

Tina smiled, which didn't comfort me in the slightest. "You're in safe hands. Sit back and let us handle this. You might find that you like it."

"That'll be the day." I heard mom mutter under her breath, but all was ignored as the frenzy of brushes and powders began.

* * *

A few hours later (it felt like an eternity) I was in the dress, my hair out of its ponytail and not in its natural straightness, instead wavy down my back.

Thankfully they hadn't gone too far on the makeup, it didn't feel like I'd just had my face caked in cement, like I'd feared. It just made my eyes look a bit bigger, and my lips seemed to pop off my face they were that red.

"Done." announced Tina and she took a step back to admire her work. "Jackie, you've never looked better." she declared.

The dress was white(of course) with some pale blue highlights. It was slim and quite conservative, except for the arms, which had been left uncovered. The way the dress was, if it had long sleeves, it just wouldn't have gone over my arm muscles, which were a little beefier than most due to years of training.

There was also some glitter along the hems for a bit of extra decoration, it wasn't much, but when it caught the light the glitter, well, glittered.

"Okay, we need to get ready too." Said mom. "So sit tight, and dad will come and get you when it's time."

_Sit tight._ Like that was going to make the nerves stop. Butterflies had morphed into snakes in my belly.

They left and I sat down, smoothing down my skirt. It was going to be another hour before I had to show up, so all I could do was sit, and wait, and stew in worry.

_Oh moon this is actually happening. When did this get so big? There's so many people on that guest list, and they all said yes!_

I started tapping my knees with one finger, then two, then tapping a rhythm with all my fingers. I had to focus to stop frost from spreading on the dress.

I couldn't do this. Oh moon I couldn't do this. I couldn't just sit here, but the wedding... Oh moon the wedding...

I swallowed and stood up, starting to pace back and forth, hands twisting over themselves and seeming to be trying to chip off the electric blue nail varnish. Nail varnish! I'd never worn nail varnish in my life!

I started to take deep breaths to try and calm down, then looked at the clock.

Five minutes! Only five minutes had passed?! I was going to be a nervous wreck by the time an hour was up.

I settled into pacing back and forth, managing not to wring my hands this time. Instead they swirled to create small amounts of snow and dispersing them just as quickly as they appeared.

The clock ticked. Ten minutes. Fifteen, half an hour. Then it was quarter to, and the snakes in my belly became a lot more active.

Which is why I jumped out of my skin when someone knocked on the door.

"Hello? Jackie? It's me."

Oh moon Toothiana was outside the door. I hadn't forgotten that she'd said she'd come, but I wasn't sure she would help my nerves.

_"Sometimes you have to talk to someone you don't know as well."_ Taboo sent her pearl of wisdom from her position behind the altar as it was her job to set off the confetti.

_Thank you for that. _I wasn't sure if I was being sarcastic or sincere.

"Can I come in?" I heard Toothiana ask through the wooden door.

"Yeah." I hated the shake in my voice.

The door opened without creaking and Toothiana fluttered in. She'd dressed up for the occasion, with a gold headdress and necklace.

"Taboo said something about you needing to talk." she prompted.

"The issue with sharing a head with another being..." I started, but surprisingly she finished.

"It's difficult to keep secrets or feelings to yourself."

"Yeah." I nodded, not too surprised. I knew her Mini Fairies were extensions of her.

Toothiana peered at my face, looking concerned. "Your face looks a bit paler than usual."

"Thanks."

I looked down at my hands, then back at Toothiana trying not to hover over my shoulder.

"Look at that, I'm shaking like a leaf" I could only just bring myself to chuckle, it sounded a bit insane. "I've fought Pitch for crying out loud, zombies, Boogeyman, Big Bad Wolf, Nightmares, shadow creatures, Descendants who want my head on a platter. Fine. A wedding?" another chuckle, slightly crazier than the first. "I'm terrified."

"It's a big day." yes, because that calmed my nerves. "Everyone out there just wants to see you happy."

"I haven't some of them in years. I haven't seen my UK aunt and uncle since before Danny died, and mom and her sister almost hate each other. I only invited her to be polite. And Jamie's family? Beyond his mom and Sophie, I've never met them."

"Don't concentrate on them." Toothiana flew a little closer, looking like she was about to put her hand on my shoulder, but re-thinking before she did. "You're here for one person."

"Jamie."

"Exactly. That's all that matters. Don't think about the guests, just focus on what's in front of you, okay?"

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling some of the tension flow out. "Thanks."

Toothiana just smiled, thankfully not her million watt one, gave me a thumbs up, and left to get to her seat.

I looked in the mirror and took another deep breath. It would be fine. All I had to do was walk in a straight line, say a few words, leave. What could wrong?

_"Don't think that!"_

_And I thought I was the one freaking out today._

_"Whatever, but you really should know better than to say 'what could go wrong?' Anything could happen!"_

_At this point? I think the worst thing that could happen would be..._

_"Don't say it! You'll jinx it!"_

_I did not have you down as superstitious._

_"I just want this to go well too, okay? So, let's focus on the positives and not on the negatives."_

_Where were you a few minutes ago?_

_"You needed someone to talk sense into you, and I know that in those meetings Toothiana's been trying to talk to you. Thought she'd be ideal."_

I raised my eyebrows and folded my arms, even though she couldn't see that.

_You didn't manipulate her by any chance, did you?_

_"I did say you might be more open to talking if she did that."_

_Not too bad, nothing concrete._

_"Also that you might try and visit a bit more."_

It was very lucky that I hadn't been about to drink anything, as it would have been spat there and then.

_Really?! You can't make promises like that!_

_"I just did. Anyway, your dad's on his way up."_

_Taboo..._

_"Seriously he's on his way up."_

_We're talking later. And you'll be apologising to Toothiana for that._

_"That's if you remember, big day."_

Before I could respond there was another knock on the door.

"Jackie?"

"Hey dad."

My dad opened the door, revealing his grey suit and greying hair, coming in at a little taller than me. His own glasses were perched on his nose, no prizes for guessing where my bad eyesight came from.

His square jaw had sagged a bit with age, and he had put on a bit weight. He wasn't the same man he was when I first joined HOG, but neither was I, a fact that seemed to occur to him as he saw me.

"When did you grow up?" he asked, coming in.

"Well, if you want mentally..."

"That's not what I meant."

He came over and held my hand, ignoring my instinctually stiffening, I don't think he noticed anymore. "You're not a little girl anymore."

"You're really going to do this speech?" I asked, tilting my head to one side.

"Come on, let me have my moment."

"Alright, but can I get a bucket first?"

"Never mind, you haven't grown up, you've regressed."

"Charming!"

We both laughing like idiots.

"So, who put the paint on your face?" he asked, eyeing the make up.

"Mainly Tina, mom may have had some input."

"So, how does it feel to have face encased in cement?"

"They didn't put that much on actually. Should be easy to get off later."

"You know." Dad elbowed me in the side. "I've seen a lot of small, rectangular shaped wedding gifts."

I couldn't stop the grin crossing my face. Books! More books! Probably also some games for Jamie, those tended to come in rectangular boxes too.

"Now." Dad hooked his arm around mine. "I believe it's time to start walking."

I glanced up at the clock, which read two o'clock.

"Yep, time to go." I looked up at my dad. "Thanks for putting up with me."

"It's in the job description." he grinned. "Along with telling bad jokes and embarrassing you in public, and I never got a chance to do the last one."

"Don't tell me you intend to start now." I asked as I collected the flowers from the table. I wasn't too keen on this one, as flowers tended to die pretty quickly around me, but we found some cold resistant ones. White crocuses, some blue and white starry flowers called chionodoxa and finally some Spanish bluebells.

"Not today, maybe in the future, but not today." He gave me a sidelong look up and down. "Still sure on sleeveless?"

"I'm not exactly dainty, I'd probably rip them by putting my arm up."

"Fair point, Jamie's a lucky man."

"You're my dad, you're supposed to say that."

"I know, but it's true. I'd also say something about him treating you right, but I think you'd have done something about that by now. Just try not to freeze him."

"Do my best. I've managed to resist the urge so far."

"Good, although we have an army of hairdryers just in case."

I snorted and doubled over laughing as the image of a group of anthropomorphic hairdryers in army fatigues all blowing as hard as they could on a block of ice passed through my mind.

Still giggling we walked out into the grounds of the house, where the marquee was set up and meeting with my bridesmaids. Alice, Sally, Rachel, Pippa, Cupcake and Mary, who looked as nervous as I felt.

Sophie was being the Maid of Honour, much to her delight. So while the other bridesmaids had royal or electric blue dresses, her dress was a little paler and with silver thread around the hems.

As it was winter the sun was starting to come down, and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground, with more falling in fat fluffy flakes from the sky. I caught one and smiled, I'd recognise Jack's work anywhere.

The marquee itself had a line of blinking fairy lights on the outside, and the flap was open for us to walk through. I could hear the music starting to swell, signifying when we were all supposed to enter.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"Yeah. I don't know why this has to be such a big deal. Some of these people don't know me."

"That doesn't matter and you know it. Now come on."

**Something of a nod to the Meetings arc I guess. Jackie does Tooth now with sort of thing, if it was any of the other Guardians (excluding Jack) then she would have clammed up because they're still work related. Tooth is as well, but Jackie's more relaxed around her. Jackie would also clam up with Jack as well, because she doesn't like him worrying.**

**HOG/Mimpossible Mini Series ******Wedding** Part 6**


	106. Family Christmas Part 1

**I know that I'm supposed to putting up the Wedding stuff, but I wanted this up before the year was over, as this is something of a late Christmas special.**

* * *

Jackie leaned back against the wall of the Main Cavern as she watched the various celebrations going on. Music was playing from the stage, where there was a choir singing in their half an hour slot. Jackie couldn't remember where they were from, or properly understand what they were singing, but it was probably Christmas related.

No matter where you were from, what religion you were born into or your family practised, if you were a Descendant of a Guardian, you would celebrate Christmas in some form. Usually by celebrating both Christmas and any other celebrations around this time of year.

The walls of the Main Cavern were lined with fir trees tall enough to very nearly brush the top of the cavern, each one dripping with decorations made of ice, wood, sand, plastic and clay. The top of each tree was adorned with either a crescent moon or a golden star.

The Main Cavern was crowded with people carrying glasses full of drink or plates piled with food from the Mess Hall and talking with each other. Laughing and singing along with the choir as well, in various different keys.

Above everyone the ceiling was strewn with floating snowflakes, candles and tinsel, and this was the same in every main room, even the Medical Cavern and the Armoury had some form of decoration and at least one tree.

Jackie's eye did land on a group of late teenagers, who were talking very loudly and acting erratically. They were easily too young to be drinking in the US, which made her eyelid twitch, but HOG tended to go with European drinking laws; 16 if with parents, 18 if not.

_"You don't approve."_ Taboo noted with some amusement from her side.

_No, I don't. Not much I can do about it, they're all 18 or 19._

"Any Descendants of Jack Frost in there?"

You really don't pay attention, do you?

"Once they're too big to ride on my back I stop caring that much, unless you get frustrated at them a lot."

No, there aren't any Descendants of Jack Frost there. Thank moon because if Nancy was there her mom would kill me.

"Don't act like you would act any differently if it was any of your three."

Let's not go there, it's Christmas.

Jackie pushed herself off the wall and walked through the crowd, which parted for her. Taboo and the cloak she was wearing certainly helped with that, although she did have to stop every few paces as people wished her Merry Christmas.

"Yes, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas to you too." Jackie managed to remember to smile instead of yawn.

"Hey Jackie!" Jason called over, his cheeks a little redder than usually. He'd clearly had a little drink. "I thought you weren't in for the celebrations for another day or so?"

"I just popped in, couldn't sleep." Jackie didn't want to mention that she was still getting nightmares, and instead of running around Burgess decided to come down and try to celebrate Christmas a little early.

"Kids keeping you up, huh?" Jason was beaming rather unnaturally, looking more like North than normal.

"The threat of scaring off Santa got them to bed," the pair chuckled at the idea of Nicholas St North being scared off by a trio of enthusiastic children. "Anyway, how much have you had to drink?"

"It's Christmas! I can let loose a bit!" Jason defended.

"That didn't answer my question," Jackie was now backing away.

"I've had a bit, but Claire will be taking over soon," Jason admitted, "Will you be joining us? I think there's a sing-a-long going on in the Mess Hall."

"I think I'll pass," Jackie stepped away again. "You enjoy that though," she added as she made her way through the crowd to the Sleeping Quarters to drop off her cloak. Checking her watch told her that it was about 5 in the morning.

_Time to go home I think._

"Bored already?"

_More terrified of what Jason might rope me into. Christmas or not, a sing-a-long will not be happening._

_"Save it for Nightmares, your singing voice could be an effective weapon."_

_Ha ha._

* * *

"Mom? Mom!"

Jackie shifted, half asleep, having managed to get in a couple hours of sleep.

"Mom! Dad!"

It was Jamie's turn to move under the covers, looking over at the clock before sitting up to look at the twins who had climbed onto the double bed.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" the twins yelled loud enough to jolt Taboo awake. Jackie groaned and gave in, so sat up as well.

"It's eight in the morning," Jamie protested, yawning as he did so. "We're not all night owls like your mom."

Jackie opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted by small hands grabbing at her arms, trying to pull her out of bed.

"Come on mom!" cried little Penny, a ball of energy as always, her blue eyes shining and brown hair rumpled and poking up in all directions from sleep. "J's downstairs already!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Jackie relented, grabbing her glasses, getting out of bed and following her daughter downstairs, while Jamie was having a similar experience with Dan, Penny's twin brother.

'J', or Jack, the twin's older brother, was in the living room like Penny had said. Unlike his younger brother and sister, J's hair was neat, like he'd taken the time to brush it before charging downstairs to inspect the presents.

The presents were crowded around a tree that wasn't nearly as big as the ones in the ones in the HOG base, but just as heavily decorated. J was on his knees, carefully poking the presents and adjusting his glasses so that they didn't fall off his face.

He looked over as the rest of the family came in, half being dragged in.

"Come on!" he waved over his siblings. "You two like mysteries, let's see if we can figure out what's in these."

"Or, we can just open them," Dan suggested. This lasted a grand total of five seconds before he charged forward to join his brother to guess what was in the presents.

Jackie and Jamie sat down on the two sofas that sat on either side of the door with Taboo in the middle as the three kids started to open their presents. Or rather, tear into them like rabid animals.

The married couple chuckled when the kids would loudly proclaim what they got. They trusted North to do his job, but they still bought them gifts too.

"Wendy hat!" Dan cried out, grinning broadly as he pulled a brown ski hat from the bright wrapping paper. He shoved it on his head, although it was a little big for him, so the front slipped down his round face, but his brown eyes still shone as he adjusted the hat on his messy brown hair and dove back into the fray.

"You couldn't find a baseball cap, could you?" Jackie asked Jamie quietly.

"I thought this would be better. Everyone gets the baseball cap."

Jackie's response was drowned out by Penny standing up and screaming, "GRAPPLING HOOK!"

Indeed she was indeed holding a toy grappling hook aloft in the air. Dan stood up with her and they yelled at the same time "MYSTERY TWINS!" while J rolled his eyes and unwrapped a new chess set.

Jackie and Jamie looked at each other.

"That wasn't my idea," Jackie quickly defended.

"Mine neither."

The two sighed at the same time. "North..."

The kids finished unwrapping their presents and Jackie and Jamie were finally able to exchange presents with each other. To neither of their surprise, books were involved on both sides, Jamie did get a model of a sphinx and Jackie got a new dictaphone.

"You always say that you didn't like borrowing off the other Heads," Jamie justified with a shrug.  
Jackie smiled and lightly cuffed him on the shoulder. "Alright Lancelot."

"Mom! J's ignoring us again!" Penny suddenly cried, interrupting the moment. Both adults looked over to see J setting up his chess game while Dan was trying to get his attention by poking at him with a new action figure.

"Maybe it would help if you stopped poking him," Jackie responded, deadpan. Her tone got sharper as Dan didn't stop. "Daniel, stop poking your brother!"

"But he's not doing anything!"

"If you want him to pay attention, maybe play a game of chess with him."

"But he always wins!" Dan sulked, but he pulled his toy away and moved back, leaning against the couch pushing his hat back up his head. J sent a smile of thanks before he moved his carefully arranged chess board somewhere safe. He then collected his pile of presents and took them up to his room.

Dan huffed and did the same, his pile mostly toys and clothes while his siblings had mostly books.  
Penny rolled her eyes and buried her head in one of her new mythology books.

Once her twin had left Jamie muttered, "J's going to get him back for that."

Taboo growled in agreement and stood up, shaking herself off.

_"Well, I'm going outside. Turkey isn't going to cut for me for Christmas dinner."_

"Go for it," Jackie said out loud, everyone in the house was used to half conversations.

"Okay mom," Penny added. "I'll go annoy the boys."

"Penny, you know that wasn't at you," Jamie sighed, especially as she looked up from her book, grinning and mischief sparkling in her blue eyes.

Penny went to go back to her book, but her head shot up as an almighty clunk could be heard from upstairs.

Everyone, even Taboo shot their heads up to look, and the two parents quickly went upstairs to check on the boys.

On the landing sat Dan, looking very indignant at the party streamers that were hanging decoratively from his new hat and his shoulders. Nearby was a bucket, most likely the source of the crash, since it had colourful bits of paper falling out of it.

Suspiciously, J was nowhere to be seen.

"I didn't think he'd get back so soon," said Penny, coming up the stairs behind him and speaking in a perfect mimic of her mother's deadpan.

Taboo let am amused huff and stalked off while Jamie and Jackie looked at each other in a mental battle to decide who would confront their eldest. It was quickly decided that Jamie would go, since Jackie would most likely comment on the not all that creative prank.

Jamie went to boy's shared room while Penny and Jackie helped Dan pick off streamers.

"I only poked him," Dan whined and Jackie sighed, but it was Penny who chimed in.

"You know how this works, J will get his own back. I've never seen it this fast," Penny admitted.

_Probably explains why it's so basic. He barely had any time._ Jackie knew better than say this out loud.

"Well, he better watch it, I'm going to get him back!" Dan grumbled angrily.

"You two start a prank war and I'll freeze you to each other."

There was no way of knowing whether Jackie would go through with that, so Dan just shut up and shoved the streamers back into the bucket.

Once Dan was cleared Jackie checked the time, and saw that more time had passed than she had thought, it was actually coming up to ten. Opening presents took a lot of time.

"Right, your grandparents and your aunt and uncle are coming over for lunch, so I want you two teeth cleaned and dressed to help me clean up while your dad takes care of dinner. Dan, make sure you tell J."

Dan grumbled at that.

"Right, Dan?"

"Fine," he sighed, getting up and going to his room. A few seconds later Jamie left, rubbing his forehead and dodging Penny as she scampered back to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"I'm pretty sure none of us had breakfast," Jamie noted.

"I think chocolate was their breakfast," Jackie noted. "Taboo's gone out to get her breakfast, and I'm okay with just grabbing an apple."

"Completely insane, as usual," Jamie sighed. "I'll at least get toast before I start cooking, since no one will help me," he added in mock irritation.

"Oh Jamie, you know I'd help you. If I could cook without running the risk of burning myself just from standing next to the oven, or fainting from the heat of a kitchen in use," Jackie was smiling serenely as she said this, and it was Jamie's turn to cuff her lightly on the shoulder.

"Alright Ice Cube, I get it," Jamie sighed. "Toast, turkey."

"Good luck," Jackie hadn't dropped the smile.

"Have fun with the kids," Jamie smiled right back, before going down to the kitchen.

_Taboo, any chance you can come back to help with the kids?_

"Hmmm, nah. Your fault for having three."

Thanks so much for your help.

"Welcome."

Jackie went downstairs to get herself that promised apple before getting dressed herself.

* * *

**So, first one with all of Jackie's post main series family.**  
**You've got Jack, Or 'J', the oldest at nine, then the twins Dan and Penny who are eight. I also know that I do have quite a wide variety of eye colours going on, but I'm taking some creative liberties since we know nothing about Jamie's dad.**

**To explain the Gravity Falls thing, I have a headcannon that that would be a show that Jamie would love, to the point where he would save up for the boxset or something like that. This boxset sits in the attic for a few years until he has kids and he decides to show it to his own kids. Penny and Dan take to it like fish to water. Also, for those who don't know, one of the main characters, Dipper, where's a baseball cap for most of the series, while an older character, Wendy (who Dipper has a crush on) wears a ski hat. The two swap hats at the end of the second season.**

**Final thought, the second paragraph, I got rather nervous about that. I know that not everyone celebrates Christmas, but when you've got proof like the Descendants have that Santa Claus exists, I thought it would only make sense that they would celebrate Christmas, and would also celebrate any other celebration that would be going on at that time of year with their families.**  
**Basically I'm trying to not be insensitive to religion and I don't know if it's working.**


	107. Family Christmas Part 2

**One swear word, in case that bothers you.**

* * *

Christmas dinner went off without too much of a hitch. Yes J was sulking a bit after Jamie had told him off for the prank, yes Dan had refused to take his new hat off at the dinner table and yes, Penny's table manners still left a lot to be desired. Overall, not so chaotic.

It wasn't often that Christmas dinner was held at Jackie and Jamie's, usually there was a rotation, but this year had warranted the larger house, as Sophie had her own small bundle.

After dinner Penny found herself fascinated by the tiny baby swaddled in pink, constantly peppering Sophie with questions.

"How old is she? Why's she in a blanket? Can she see? Oh she's so cute!"

Dan pretended to throw up at all of these questions and instead tried to get his uncle, Sophie's partner, to arm wrestle with him. Meanwhile J was with his grandfather, Jackie's dad Gavin, who was teaching him card tricks.

Both Jack and Jamie used this time to talk to their mom's, but Jackie quickly caught Penny asking Sophie, "so where, did she come from?"

Sophie laughed, partly nervously, partly mischievous, but Jackie looked over.

"Ask me after everyone's gone home, okay Penny?"

The eight year old pouted, but didn't pester Sophie with that question anymore. Instead she tried to get Sophie's baby to grab her finger.

Everyone eventually filtered into the living room, with the adults talking and the three children being bored. J, who'd been quiet since the bucket incident that morning, suddenly tapped Jackie on the knee.

"Mom?" he asked quietly, so not to interrupt the story his uncle was telling.

"Yes J?" Jackie responded at the same volume level, lowering her head to his level to hear him properly.

"Wanna play chess?" the nine year old inclined his head to his new chess set, sitting on the sideboard.

Jackie was bored with the story Sophie's partner was telling, and she didn't like small talk anyway, so nodded.

J beamed and scampered off to retrieve the set, carefully pulling it down and making sure none of the pieces fell. He placed it on a clear spot on the floor and sat at the white piece end. Jackie got off the sofa and sat at the other end, then decided that she would get neck ache from this position, so changed to lie on her stomach.

As the two played, Dan and Penny decided it would be funny to jump over Jackie's legs repeatedly, giggling loudly.

Jackie really didn't feel like joining in the small talk again, so dragged out the game as long as possible. She could have won fairly early on, and she knew that J had noticed, but she ignored the obvious victory.

Charlotte Davies sighed when she saw what Jackie was doing.

"Jackie, would it kill you to socialise with the rest of us?"

"Most likely," Jackie knocked over one of J's pawns. "I also don't hear anyone else complaining."

"Don't worry about it Jackie," her dad assured, "her sister was over this morning."

"That explains it," Jackie smirked as J responded by knocking over one of her pawns.

"Why?" Penny asked mid jump, having naturally heard the conversation. "What's she like?"

Jackie thought for a moment how to explain tastefully. "She always thinks she has the best ideas."

"Oh, like Mackenzie in my class," Penny thought aloud, before charging off after her brother to play somewhere else.

Nothing exploded, so the conversation and chess game continued until the guests decided that it was time to leave. Minutes after they had left, there was a sudden scream from upstairs.

"IT'S SNOWING!"

Jackie jerked her head up to look out the window, and indeed, white specks were starting to fall, quickly getting thicker.

Jackie looked over at J, who had heard the shout and was also looking outside.

"Want to go out?" she asked, and smiled as her eldest nodded, enthusiasm obvious in his hazel eyes.

"Go get your coat on," she said as he ran off, and she could hear Jamie saying the same to the twins, as well as boots and gloves.

Jackie put on a pair of boots as well, pulling her hoodie on over her head, but that was as far as she went. In comparison, Jamie and the kids had thick winter coats, hats, gloves and boots. They had a learned resistance to the cold, but they weren't as immune to it as Jackie.

They all ran to catch the snow as it fell, the three children laughing and shrieking. As it settled they started throwing it at each other, and Jackie carefully made it settle a little faster, outright forming the snow on the ground.

Taboo jumped over the garden fence and went into a dog's play bow in front of the kids, growling in a playful way while her tail whipped behind her and sent snow flying. Dan was quick to retaliate, while J snuck behind Taboo and Penny climbed the tree in the garden. Between them they bombarded Taboo with snow, with the ice tiger shaking it off and roaring while the trio giggled.

Jamie glanced at Jackie, a little concerned at Taboo's roaring, but relaxed when he saw that Jackie wasn't reacting. Instead Jackie was scanning the sky, like she was waiting for something. Or someone.

Her patience was rewarded as a slim figure in a dark blue hoodie flew down from the sky and landed nimbly in the old oak tree. The two grinned at each while the kids hadn't appeared to have noticed him yet.

"Hey Icicle."

"Hey Snowman, North have a good night?"

"Same as usual," Jack yawned, still gripping his staff as he stretched. "Nothing big happened, so I heard."

"You didn't go with him?"

"Nah, waited for him to come back. What about you, did you see him?"

Jackie shrugged. "Didn't want to get in his way. Plus if the kids found out I knew Santa Claus I'd never hear the end of it."

"You don't want them to know what cool friends you have?"

"They already know about you," Jackie smirked and Jack put a hand on his heart.

"You flatter me," he smirked right back, before dropping out of the tree and landing with a soft flumph in the swiftly settling snow. "Speaking of cool friends," he peered around the tree at the trio barraging Taboo, "I'd better go so hi."

"Oh, I'm not good enough anymore?" Jackie's smirk grew wider, making it clear she was joking.

"Well, hard to say if you can still keep up with me," Jack did a back flip, just because he could. "You're getting old Icicle."

"Says you," Jackie folded her arms and leant against the tree, "and 40 isn't old."

Jack smirked at her as he stayed on one hand, mid way through a second back flip. "If you say so," he winked and tumbled to his feet as Jackie shook her head, still amused.

Jack grinned and charged into the fray against Taboo, and the tiger roared in indignation.

_"Oh come on! Frost as well!"_

Jack laughed, which caught the attention of the three kids, who all stopped and stared at him, before breaking into even broader grins.

"JACK!" they cried, and Jack's smile got wider.

"Hey guys, miss me?"

Jackie smiled as she watched them crowd around her ancestor, laughing and chattering about their Christmas. Taboo stalked over to Jackie, shaking off the snow and snaking her tail on the ground.

_"I swear, your brats..." _Taboo shook her head.

_They were having fun, and you love it really._

_"Tch, I almost miss the days where all they'd do was pull my tail."_ Taboo yawned and lay down, which is when Jackie noticed there was still blood on the fangs.

_Good hunting?_ She asked as she froze the blood and remotely picked it off.

_"Got a couple of rabbits."_

_Don't tell Bunnymund._

_"I won't if you won't." _

Without warning a snowball hit Jackie in the face. She blinked in surprise and looked over at Jack suspiciously, but he was still messing around with the kids. Then he got a shot to the face.

Jack immediately looked at Jackie, even though he knew that wasn't where the snowball had come from. It was rare for both of them to be taken off guard like that. Both of their gazes then turned to Jamie, who was standing a little away from everyone else with a pile of snowballs at his feet and throwing one up and down in his gloved hand.

"So, I don't count unless snow's involved?" he asked.

"Sorry Jamie," Jack shrugged. "You know what I'm like with kids."

Jamie chuckled. "Yeah, I know," the snowball stilled in his hand. "Thank fast!" he flung the snowball at Jack, hitting him full in the face. He tumbled back acrobatically and rolled to his feet, still grinning.

"Free for all!" he yelled, but was cut short by another snowball hit in the side. He looked over at the where it had come from, but Jackie had disappeared from her spot by the tree, Taboo was still lying down, and the snow was now thick enough for Jackie to be hiding under it.

The three kids scattered, each bending down to shove together rough snowballs, even the quiet J was as enthusiastic as his siblings at snow being flung at him.

Jack laughed and with a swish of his staff there were piles of perfectly formed snowballs scattered around the back garden. He then smirked as he spotted a hand appear from beneath the snow and pull some of the balls down.

Jack had no doubt that Jackie had mapped the position of everyone in the garden and was preparing some sneak attacks.

To counteract this Jack took to the air, so at least someone will have the edge over her.

Dan, Penny, J, Jamie and even Taboo all got a sneak attack this way, but even with Jackie commando crawling through the snow and using her snow sense, she couldn't find Jack.

_Sneaky sod, he's in the air isn't he?_

_"I'm not telling you. Not after that sneak attack."_ Taboo sulked as she rolled snowballs with her tail and dodged every one bound for her. An impressive feat given that she was at her normal tiger size and the easiest target.

_Well, he's either on the house or in the air. He'd never leave a snowball fight._

Jackie rolled onto her back and poked a hole for her to try and see through. This hole only gave a view of what was directly above her however, and Jack was almost guaranteed to be moving.

_He'll come by here eventually._ Jackie rationalised, snow primed and ready. _Just got to wait._

Taboo shook her head as she listened to Jackie's thought process. _"Hey Jack! Jackie's taking this way too seriously!"_

"And you're surprised?" Jack called back, artfully dodging snowballs flung his way by the kids, who had teamed up against Jack and the adults.

From her sniper position, Jackie grinned as she spotted him fly over. She didn't bother with a witty line, she just fired.

Jack cried out in surprise as he was hit from below and tumbled into the snow. He started to get up, but he was pelted with snowball from the kids.

"Alright alright!" he called out, laughing as she tried to shield himself with his hands. "New game, your mom is hiding under the snow, let's find her!"

_You little shit._

Jackie rolled back over and started crawling as fast as she could through the snow, creating new tunnels and falling back on ones she had already made. Unfortunately so many tunnels meant that the snow would eventually collapse on top of her.

With a 'whumpf' the snow fell on top of her, as she'd forgotten to hold it up. She let out a loud sigh as some of it got between her glasses and face. It was removed with a thought, but something grabbed her by the bottom of her jeans and she was pulled into the air with a cry of surprise.

Before she could react to this attack her mind clocked that it was just Taboo, and that she was now dangling upside down from her mouth.

"Taboo, put me down," Jackie folded her arms and looked disapprovingly at her, but Taboo wasn't fazed.

_"Hmmm, nah. Jack, catch!"_

"No no no no no no no!" Jackie was tossed into the air by Taboo. Before she could catch herself in midair she felt her hood snag on something and her descent was halted , leaving her level with the second floor of the house. A laugh told her who had caught her and she looked over her shoulder at Jack, as she was hanging from the crook of his staff.

"Jack, Snowman, we can talk about this."

"Aww, you didn't say that you were just 'hanging around'." Jack grinned, looking like he was very tempted to flick his staff up.

"Just put me down, please."

Jack had _that _grin on his face, the one that spelt trouble.

"You can fly, can't you?"

"Jack."

"Hey, do you want see your mom fly?" Jack innocently asked the kids. J had the decency to look concerned, but Dan and Penny seemed to be all for it.

"Well, I now know who out of you three I can rely on in a crisis!" Jackie called down jokingly. She wasn't happy about this, but the chances of someone seeing them was pretty low.

Jack flicked his staff up and Jackie sailed into the air. For the sake of a show she did indeed form her wings. Ice wings 3 or 4 times her height unfurled either side of her and with a hard flap she went even higher. She grinned and folded her wings in, allowing herself to plummet feet first towards the ground.

She felt a shock in her stomach when she heard Penny scream and she knew that she'd messed up. Her wings shot out again and she flew back down safely before being tackled by her daughter.

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Jackie murmured to her, on her knees and hugging Penny. "Shush, shush."

"Oh come on! She wasn't gonna die! You're such a wimp!" Dan laughed, but his giggles slowly stopped under the glare of both his parents.

"Apologise. Now." Jamie said sternly, as Jackie was comforting was Penny.

"Admit it," J said as he walked past Dan, "You were scared too."

"I was not!" Dan's dark brown eyes glared at his older brother, who smirked right back.

"You keep telling yourself that. I heard you shriek."

"Oh, like you didn't freak out either."

J dropped the smirk and went over to Jackie and Penny, hugging his little sister as well.

"You've been listening to how I talk I little too much." Jackie commented, causing Penny to giggle.

Jack landed nearby and knelt next to Penny.

"Sorry I scared you," he said, completely sincere.

Jackie could feel Penny calming down, so smiled at Jack. "You just got a little caught up in it all," she said. "We just forgot that these guys aren't as aware of my limits as you are."

"Yeah..."

Jackie saw that Dan was looking at the hug, trying very hard to not look jealous and failing miserably.

Jackie opened her arm up, and he tried not to look too happy as he came over to join in the hug. Jack pretended to look shocked at this level of hugging from Jackie, who rolled her eyes.

"Everyone, get for a hug, come on. Or you can take a picture, it'll probably last longer."

Jamie laughed and came over, wrapping one arm around Jackie's shoulder and the other around his children, but Jack stayed where he was.

"Really need a camera right now," he said, grinning a little to himself.

"Jack, are you going to get in here or what?" Jackie asked. When Jack continued to dither Penny broke away and grabbed by the hand to drag him over, smiling.

The group hug lasted a good minute before J muttered, "So, how long are we going to stand like this?"

This got chuckles out of everyone and they drew apart, then Jamie clapped his hands together.

"How about we all go inside for something to drink, you too Jack," he pointed at the Guardian.

"Well, er, they might want me back at the Pole..." he said awkwardly.

"I'll lend you a Smoke," Jackie said. "It's Christmas, and you're part of this family too. Come on. Do you want fruit juice or milk?" she turned to go back into the house.

"Hot chocolate?" Penny asked hopefully, and Jamie nodded.

"Sure!"

"Last one in's a broken candy cane!" Dan suddenly yelled and they all charged for the door, Jamie and Taboo included.

Jackie chuckled, but then noticed that Jack hadn't moved. "Jack?" she turned to face him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Icicle."

Normally Jackie would contest that, but there was something about how he said it that made her think that he wasn't lying.

"Then why are you still standing there?"

Jack rocked back and forth on his feet. "I don't know, I'm surprised? I guess?"

"Just because I see the other Guardians as work doesn't mean that applies to you. You've been in both mine and Jamie's life too much for that to be the case." Jackie walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Plus, the kids love you, that scare just now aside. Final point, you're rarely around on Christmas Day, let's make the most of it."

Jack was smiling by now. "All good points there Icicle. Alright, alright, I'm coming."

Jackie smiled and walked back to the house, Jack following beside her. This was going to be a good Christmas.

* * *

**First point to be made, I have not put that much thought into Sophie's family. All I thought is that she's eight years younger than Jamie, and this story is about ten years after Jackie and Jamie got married, so I think it's reasonable for her to be starting her own family.**  
**I wouldn't expect them to show up much though, as I said, haven't thought much about it.**  
**Second point, in my mind Jack's usually busy on Christmas, either being at the Pole of making sure somewhere has a white Christmas, plus, I do think he might think that Jackie and Jamie are moving on from him. This will pop up again in the next couple of wedding parts, but now they've got kids of their own, Jack worries that they're not interested anymore.**  
**Understandable, but ill founded, since Jackie and Jamie are a bit too stubborn to let that happen.**

**Happy New Year!**


	108. Wedding Mini Series Part 7

**New place, internet's spotty, right not, just glad I got this up!**

We walked in together, with the bridesmaids following. Inside folding chairs were set up to form an aisle, ready to make way for the reception later. Each one was filled with men in suits and ladies in elegant dresses and odd looking hats, not sure I'd ever get that one.

Some of them I recognised, some I didn't, some of Jamie's family and my UK family I didn't really recognise. At the back sat the Big Four, the Guardians.

Having them at the back was by no means meant as an insult, it was just so people who didn't know about them would notice the suspiciously empty chairs.

Right at the front Jamie was waiting, in a royal blue suit, his hair combed back. Next to him, he had two best men. One of them was a college friend that I didn't really know, the other was Jack.

For everyone who didn't believe in the Guardians, Tim was Jamie's best man, anyone who did knew who the real best man was.

Jamie and I had talked long and hard about that, I had no real issue with it, except, that, it didn't seem to fit Jack. I know those two have been friends for years, and Jamie had kept believing all that time, but having Jack Frost as your best man? It just seemed odd to me.

Sadly, that had been my best argument, and I'll admit, it was good to see him in his dark blue suit, staff still there and grinning like an idiot. Tim also scrubbed up well, but, sorry, I wasn't as bothered about him.

Jamie glanced back as I walked through, and he stared, clearly not quite believing what he was seeing. I felt my face burn a bit, but I decided that I didn't care. This was happening, and at that moment I was glad that it was.

That feeling didn't last as I stepped up, my dad and the bridesmaids got to their seats, and the vicar started talking.

We ended up going for a traditional ceremony, to appease our more conservative relatives, and I regretted it when he started it. It was so dull!

I could see both Jack and Tim struggling to stay awake, and Jamie's grin had gone fixed and his eyes were glazing over. I just fixed my gaze on a spot just above his balding head and kept an ear out for important words.

When it came to the rings though, we had our own twist.

Both of us had plain wedding bands, let's be honest, neither of us wanted anything bulky when we had fight. Once those were on, I produced a snowflake, out of nowhere. It was a Bergland tradition that we were adopting, although sometimes it was the norm for a snowflake to be presented at the proposal. It was for the fiancé to wear somewhere, and Jamie and I had gone for doing it at the wedding, as he hadn't known about the tradition.

The little show was enough to grant a round of applause to those who thought I had just pulled a magic trick, and Jack gave me a sceptical look. A very clear 'how did you know that you were going to get away with that?' look.

I formed a pin on the back and pinned it to Jamie's jacket, where the flower would normally be. He then pulled a pre-prepped snowflake, which Jack gave an obvious grin about, from his sleeve and clipped it into my hair.

With that, I vaguely heard 'You may now kiss the bride', but it was lost as Jamie grinned and did the movie style pull down to kiss, which I did _not_ squeak at.

That thought quickly left as the kiss happened. I know Taboo activated the confetti, because I could hear clapping instead of confused silence, but I didn't really care.

As always, the rush of emotion took me by surprise and it felt like fireworks were going off in my brain.

We had to pull out for oxygen and everyone started to file outside, with Jamie and I at the head. From there there was the greeting everyone and photos and such, but I saw one kid, one of my younger cousins I think, he was about five or so, staring at the Guardians, who did look a little awkward.

Bunnymund was in a dark green suit and glasses, which I understood to be a very traditional look for him. North was in a traditional red and white suit, but it looked more formal than what you'd expect from Santa Claus. Finally Sandman looked about the same as always, but he did have a sand top hat on his head.

My cousin's green eyes were bulging out of his head as he stared and I looked at Jamie.

"Shall we introduce them?"

"One of us has to stand here." he said. "Rock paper scissors?"

"Sure."

We stood there for a few seconds until I won, so I left Jamie to greet the guests as I went over to the kid.

"Hey." I said, and he jumped out of his skin, turning to look at me.

"H-hi." he said in a cute English accent, clearly nervous.

I looked at him, then flicked my eyes over to the Guardians, sans Jack, who was currently trying to make Jamie laugh by pulling silly faces behind the guests. Then my eyes flicked back to my cousin.

"Shall I introduce you?"

His eyes went even wider and he looked back and forth between me and the Guardians, who had clocked on. North was trying not to laugh while Toothiana was smiling sweetly. Sandman was just smiling and Bunnymund tried to not look too big.

"You know them?" my cousin asked in a stage whisper.

"Jamie and I invited them." I could tell that I'd gone up on his list of cool people.

He looked back over. "Isn't there one missing?"

"He's messing with some of the other guests, making this a bit more interesting."

He looked over at Jack and started laughing. "How come no one else can see them?"

"No one else believes. No come on, let's go say hi."

We walked over, but as we got within a few metres of the Big Four he hid behind my skirt, peeking out at them.

"They're not going to bite." I assured. "Well, Bunny might, being a giant rabbit and all."

"Hey!" Bunnymund cried, irritated, but I just grinned at him, surprisingly more relaxed around them than ever.

I knelt down a bit to my cousin's level. "So, this is..." I thought for a second, names passing before my eyes. "...Callum. Callum, I think you can guess who these guys are."

He stared in wide eyed awe, and Toothiana was the first to come over.

"Come on, let's see those teeth!" she squealed and without waiting for answer she opened his mouth to have a look.

I looked over at the other three. "This is normal, isn't it?"

North nodded solemnly while Bunnymund face, pawed and Sandman laughed silently.

"I must say!" Toothiana withdrew with a smile and a thumbs up, leaving a confused looking Callum. "You have excellent teeth, keep it up!"

I chuckled before I heard her say. "Don't think you're getting out of it, just because it's your wedding!"

"Wait, wha-ah!"

She was careful not to touch my gums and withdrew, satisfied while I tried to the get the burning sensation out of my mouth.

I heard Callum laugh at my expression and I gave him an amused look.

"We'll see who's laughing when the snowball fight starts."

"There's going to be a snowball fight?" he asked, lighting up even more.

"Probably, I wouldn't put it past Jack." I looked over at where he was. "Speaking of which , I'd better go pretend to be a normal adult."

"You are a normal adult." Callum said, and I'm pretty sure I heard Bunnymund snort with laughter, quickly turning it into a cough.

He was young, I decided to take a risk.

"Let me tell you a secret." I leaned down and whispered. "I'm secretly an ice bender."

"No!" Callum didn't believe me, but I nodded.

"Where do you think that snowflake came from? Jamie's came from Jack, but mine didn't."

I stood up. "Have fun you guys."

I was sad to leave, but they seemed to be okay, especially as Callum excitedly told North what he wanted for Christmas. I also saw Sophie finish hugging her brother and going a little nervously over to Bunnymund, and the two started a conversation.

"Jackie!"

I got side tackled by Alice, who was laughing her head off. She turned a few heads, especially mom's sister, who was looking down her nose a bit. Oh, wait, that was her normal expression.

"You're married now! That's so cool!" She squealed, pulling me into a hug so tight I fought to breath.

"Air..." I gasped and she released me, still grinning.

"You know... A Dothraki wedding is considered boring if no one dies." She said, contemplating.

"Aright you a little psycho, but this isn't a Dothraki wedding."

"I'm joking! I didn't know some of your family could be so, boring."

"Had to get my deadpan from somewhere."

"No kidding. I don't your aunt has stopped looking down her nose."

"She's like that."

"Reckon we could..." Alice mimed rolling a snowball.

"I think Jack might be on that." I said, eyeing the pile he was making by the side of the marquee. "We'll have to see."

Alice followed my gaze and grinned. "This is going to be amazing."

"I agree."


	109. Wedding Mini Series Part 8

We had to wait a few minutes, then Jack the first of his projectiles fly.

They hit the backs of the heads of some of the older guests, who stood there looking confused for a second, then there was a familiar sparkle in their eye as they got down to get some snowballs.

Myself, the Descendants of Jack Frost, the Burgess gang and the Guardians needed no more incentive to start the game ourselves, even as more of Jack's special snowballs went flying with pinpoint accuracy. The Burgess Branch were not far behind, and neither were my parents.

With unplanned unison, the Descendants and I cried out. "FREE FOR ALL!"

There was no order, instead utter chaos reigned as people got pelted with snowballs. You could tell who had more practice, I use snowballs fights as a training exercise for crying out loud! The Descendants and the Guardians were easily the best, with the Burgess gang coming at close second.

The people working on the event must have scratching their heads at what was going on, but called us back in to begin the reception, which meant sitting on the high table and listening to a speech from my dad.

All the chairs had been moved to sit around round tables, set like a tea party. This was mainly because there was going to be a Descendant and Guardian (if they wanted to come) only reception with a larger meal. The only big thing was on the centre of the high table, where Taboo was sitting, and trying to remain as still as possible.

My dad tapped the side of his glass to quell the various conversations as everyone tried to get the snow off. He then stood up, face a little red and nervous looking.

"Okay, speech..." my dad wasn't really one for public speaking, but he was trying. "Well, can't say that when Jackie was younger I saw this happen, because, sorry Jackie, you really weren't the boy friend type."

_No kidding._

"You were quiet and, not moody, but certainly you grew up far too quickly. Then you met Jamie, and some other people. I don't know what they did, or what they said, but you changed. You smiled again. After a while you laughed again. It was wonderful to see."

He paused and I had a look round, to see that his eyes were suspiciously shiny, was he about to cry?

"And now, to see that you're going to spend the rest of your life with the man who helped heal you, when your mum and I couldn't. It lifts my heart more than you know. Thank you Jamie, for bringing my little girl back into the light, and Jackie, it's wonderful to see you so happy."

He sat down, and there was an applause, and I gave my dad a hug, because he honestly looked he was about to cry. There were a few 'Ahhh's as I did so, and then Jamie stood up to do his speech.

"I don't think I can top that." he admitted, to a few laughs. "Truth was I met Jackie many years ago, when I was just a kid. She acted like she was whole, when it only took a closer look to see that she was in fact, broken. I'm not going to say why, as I don't think it's appropriate for a wedding. And I'm also going to share something that most might not know."

I looked up at him, wondering where he was going with this.

"You see, a few weeks after we'd met, I was attacked, and Jackie got it into her head that it was her fault. She ran away, I don't know what brought her back, but she snuck into the hospital, and after making sure that wasn't going to run away, we started talking, and she told me why she had run, and she cried. I don't think she'd cried for a few years. I can't remember exactly what I said, but she looked at me with such hope and a little disbelief, and then a bond was forged."

Jamie looked at me, a warm smile on his face. "I don't know when it was when I fell in love, and to say that it's been smooth until this point would be a lie. Jackie, you can be cold, you can incredibly tactless, painfully sarcastic and at times blindly stupid, but you are also kind, intelligent, and brave. Contradictions, I know, but you manage it, depending on the situation, and although the wedding is kind of ceremonial at this point, but I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

Another series of claps and it was the best man's turn. I know this was supposed to be one of the big speeches, but it was mainly college memories about Jamie. Then, finally, although was a relatively new tradition, it was my turn for a speech.

I stood up and took the mic, having had a speech prepared in my head.

"Well, I had a speech prepared, but after listening to everyone else, I'm going to wing it."

A few laughs.

"I can't deny what everyone has said about me. I was and still can be a bit too calm and rational for the situation. Even now I'm still learning how to act like a normal human being, whether or not there is such thing. And to add to what Jamie said, about the night I ran away. I ran because it reminded me of the night my brother died, which is why I ended up so, emotionless, for a while. I ran because I was scared, because I didn't want to see that again. It took to someone else to make me see that I didn't want to leave. My, well, I didn't see them as friends at the time, but definitely friends now, and Jamie, made me want to stay, so I went back.

"And I can tell you Jamie what you said that made me look at you that way, because there's no way I could have forgotten. You told me that I was your friend, and that you didn't want me to go. A simple thing, but it meant the world at the time. I had had no friends since my brother died and I had only known you a few weeks, the fact you considered me a friend even then made my heart soar. So, thank you Jamie, you were one of many to pull me out of the dark, and the one who asked to marry me, and I'll be honest, I think my brain crashed when it happened, but, if there's anything I really want to say, is thank you. Thank you for everything, for not giving up on me, and here's for our life to come!"

There was a toast and everyone settled down for the tea party, mainly sticking to their tables, until some music started.

Jamie stood up and held out his hand to me. "May I offer you this dance my lady?"

I grinned. "Indeed my good sir." I took his hand and we went to a clear area to dance.

A few years ago, I would not even have considered going up there, but I found that dancing in some ways is like fighting, you move a certain way to achieve a goal, in this case, to have fun. I wasn't good, even if I do have some grace from many years of learning to fight, but Jamie was okay and walked me through some dances.

I heard some shrieks and I looked over to see my mom's sister and someone else running from Taboo on the table.

_What did you do?_

_"They called me tacky!"_

_I'll throw a snowball at them later, what did you do?_

_"I just twitched, I swear!"_

_Right..._

As more people danced, Jamie and I got ambushed my our mothers.

"So, now you two are married." my mom started with a smile that I wasn't sure I liked.

"You two are more likely to..." Mrs Bennett said and Jamie's eyes went wide.

"Mom!"

I was left completely oblivious until my mom said.

"We want grandkids."

Both of us went bright red.

"MOM!" we both went, utterly embarrassed.

Mrs Bennett and my mom looked at each other and practically cackled before disappearing, leaving us with that pressure.

"Oh boy." I breathed.

"Mom found you?" asked Sophie behind me and we both jumped. "Don't worry, but, I wouldn't mind a niece or nephew, or both."

Her shark smile lasted as she sprinted off to find Alice and Jamie and I returned to looking at each other.

"Can we leave that for a while?" I asked.

"Yeah, not touching that with a bargepole."

* * *

A few hours later it was time for the people related to the Guardians to shuffle off to the HOG base for the second reception. Everyone slowly left so the company hosting the event could pack up, and everyone heading to the base (which didn't include my parents, they were quite happy to leave that part of my life be) either went by one of Bunnymund's Tunnels or by Smoke.

Inside the Main Cavern the second reception had already been set up, with a high table and a few round ones again, but this time there was going to be a proper meal. Samson, who used to be a professional chef before retiring due to his wheelchair making it difficult to get around the kitchen, had instantly volunteered to cater. Honestly, I think he was happy to do some intense cooking again, you didn't have to know him well to know that it was something he loved doing.

Other Descendants had showed up, the rest of the Descendants of Jack Frost and their Branches, and for once Amelia O'Donnell didn't look like she was about to run away, even if she did eye Taboo warily still.

Thankfully none of us made our speeches again, which meant Jack could finally do his speech.

He stood up, and he had this grin on his face that made me think that he was going to start doing the typical best man thing, and start telling embarrassing stories. The worst thing was, he has a lot of ammo on both of us.

"So." he started, grin still in place. "I hear it's traditional to tell embarrassing stories, and who am I to disappoint?"

We were doomed.

"So, in no particular order, here we go."

Jamie and I looked at each other and braced ourselves.

"So, contrary to popular belief, Jackie has a cute side."

Uh oh, he wasn't, was he?

"A few years ago, I know for a fact she had a stuffed polar bear in her room."

He was.

"I believe his name was Pickles?" Jack turned his grin my way as my face went a bit red. "Do you still have him?"

The answer to that question was in fact, yes. Not that I was going to say it.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jamie nodding, grinning as well.

"He's on the bookshelf!" he called out and there was some laughter in the congregation.

"Don't laugh too soon Jamie, still have the robot around?" Jack asked and it was Jamie's turn to go a little red.

I nodded, but had the grace not to shout out where it was. Jamie's prize robot had the best place on the coffee table. When Taboo wasn't hiding it, she often hid my polar bear as well.

"Although, I must say, I'm glad you two finally got around to this. I was starting to avoid the lake just in case I walked in on you two!"

Jack probably meant kissing or just being unbearably cute, however I had spent enough time around Alice Harper to start thinking about dangerous things and if my face was red before, it was now the colour of a fire engine!

"Okay, I think if I embarrass you two anymore your heads are going to explode, so I'll end on this. You two are some of the best friends I've had, I'm glad you two are happy. Just don't forget about us alright?"

He had a half hopeful, half sad smile on his face, but I couldn't but look around the room obviously and say.

"Going to be pretty hard to do that Snowman!"

There was good natured laughter all across the room, but then Jamie and I stood up and hugged Jack.

Some of the Descendants seemed to go into shock, but neither of us really cared.

"Like we'd forget about you." I muttered.

"You're our best friend." added Jamie.

My shoulder started feeling a bit damp and frozen, but I decided not to mention it as we all sat back down.

Then I quickly stood back up like a jack in the box.

"So, I know Samson's been working hard on this, so let's eat!"

"Hear hear!" yelled someone from Oliver's Branch, much to his embarrassment, and we all started eating and talking.

**One more part to go!**


	110. Wedding Mini Series Part 9

I had deliberately put the Guardians on a table with a lot of other Descendants, just to try and get the latter more relaxed around the former. I could see that the Guardians were trying, but it was clearly slow progress. However, slow progress was still progress.

After that I honestly found the dancing thing a lot less awkward, maybe it was the practice from the earlier reception, or maybe it was because I knew these people. I may be a Head, didn't mean I couldn't let loose once in a while.

Even the Guardians started relaxing, I'm pretty sure I saw North trying to teach Ana's Branch how to properly do a Russian folk dance. The giant man had a surprising amount of grace, but it came with fighting I think, grace is about conserving energy after all.

Bunnymund and Toothiana were just talking normally, while Sandman was giving a few people, mainly Greg, a bit of a lesson on what his signs meant. Jack was pulling silly tricks around the reception, and I could tell that Jason was having trouble restraining himself from telling him off.

Taboo was also basically being a ride for some of the kids, and not even Amelia could object as she saw that none of them were getting hurt. Taboo wouldn't hurt any of these guys, especially not now.

The whole atmosphere got everyone relaxed, and soon the Guardians were telling a few stories about their time to a slowly growing and captive audience. I could vaguely hear them, but the musicians had switched a slow song, and I just felt like staying with Jamie.

During all this, there was a sudden call from Samson.

"The cake is coming!"

We hadn't gone for a cake at the previous reception, to go along with the tea party theme, but for this one Samson insisted, and he didn't disappoint.

The cake was almost an amalgamation of both of our interests, blue with white snowflakes, but in there were mythological creatures for Jamie as part of his college course; Mythological Studies.

The whole thing was three tiers, with the bottom tier having the snowflakes, representing the fact that it was technically Jack that brought us together. Very technically. Next were the mythological creatures drawn into the red icing, with a few iced models. They ranged from sphinx's, hippogriffs and mermaids to seropards, hippocampi, frost giants and even some forms of Japanese yokai. The top tier was white with their names etched into the icing in gold cursive, and the models of the couple on top. Samson hadn't seen the final wedding outfits, so had gone with me in a very formal Head get up while Jamie was in a black and white suit. Taboo hadn't been forgotten either, with her model lying in front of the models of Jamie and I

The cake was rolled in on a trolley table, with Samson wheeling himself in after it. He hadn't dressed up, which was odd to see, as Jackie had never seen him in anything but smart or fashionable clothes without a hair out of place. However now he was in his chef's apron and hat, which was slightly askew on his head. It was clear he was tired, but he had a look of exhilaration on his face.

The musicians stopped for now as everyone looked over Jamie and I went over to cut it. It was a bit embarrassing, but after the attention we'd been getting all day, this was nothing. Taboo dropped off the current group of kids and went over to us, rubbing her head along of our legs legs, much like a large domestic cat. We both stroked her, but Jamie had to withdraw sooner because of the aching cold of Taboo's icy body, which naturally I wasn't bothered about.

There was a cake knife on the table, and we both went to pick it up. After a second of awkward retreating and going for it, I wrapped my longer fingers around the handle while Jamie wrapped his larger hand around mine. As was the norm now, we didn't care much for the difference in temperature, at this point we might be disconcerted if the other actually felt neutral.

We decided to cut the bottom tier first, and placed two slices of cake two plates. Jamie picked up a fork and took a bit off, then held it out towards me, and I raised my eyebrows, but I decided to humour Jamie. I opened her mouth and let Jamie feed me a bit of cake, and then I did the same back. I'm pretty sure there were a few people squealing in the background, with Tina's being the loudest, and I tried not to let it annoy me.

After that, the musicians started to play again, and the dancing recommenced, with Samson now able to join in and mingle.

It took a little while for a slow song to come back on again, and by that point, no words really needed to be said, not tonight, he leaned my forehead on mine and we slowly turned like an awkward couple at prom, except there was nothing awkward about us. Not anymore.

"Love you Ice cube."

"Love you too Lancelot."

**Okay, this has been, interesting.**

**Thanks again to MIMitationBalance for getting this ball rolling. Check out my DeviantArt for the Mimpossible version, same username as my Fanfiction.**

**I'll be back to posting one shots, eventually. We'll see what I come up with. Thanks for sticking with this!**


	111. Reviewer reply

Hi, not a story update, it's what the title says. So, most people can skip this one.

I normally reply to reviews via PM now, because I actually don't get that many, so it's quicker for me to do it that way, however, I've noticed a small string of reviews that I hadn't noticed until today.

So, this is a response to the several reviews that GoldenRacehouse has posted. Again, I'd normally PM this, but there's seems to be an issue with that, as in the option isn't coming up. Also, sorry this took so long, I somehow missed them even though you've been writing these since 27th December.

So, first HOG arc.  
That is great praise indeed, thank you! At this point I do agree with you about the accent thing, it doesn't really make sense. However it's been so long, and it's such a key factor it would take a lot of re-working and re-writing to change. Not to mention, I can't stand ret-cons, I made that decision, I'm going to have to live with , 10/10? I'm so flattered *blushes*

Howling Shadows  
Glad you enjoyed it, and glad I could convince you with Lupine. I was admittedly kicking myself for forgetting the Monkey King, but I like Lupine's Descendants too much to truly regret it.  
That's quite interesting that you prefer the first one, I personally don't, but that's your opinion and I won't try and change it.

Don't Fear the Reaper  
Well, er, better get used to the idea of Jack and Jamie being together, because I don't drop it! I don't usually ship either, or write romance, but I found it kinda cute. I don't even know why I thought of it, but I couldn't quite let the idea go *shrug*

Interesting, I'll be honest I never learnt much about Irish independence at school, which is a shame because that's quite an important event. Then again, I usually say the same about US independence to my American friends. You have every right to boast, it's a beautiful country (okay I've only been once but it was a lovely once)!

HOG Files  
You are quite correct, never could quite remember how to spell his name correctly. Big fan of his books.


	112. Therapy with the Easter Bunny

The ice whip cracked and I gave Paura my own mad grin. It wasn't perfect, but it would do.

Ice rushed toward Paura, quickly encasing her feet, and she rushed to try and thaw it, however I wasn't going to give her the chance.

Ice rushed up her body, and within seconds she was frozen solid, a look of terror on her face. A slight twitch of the fingers and less than a second later, she shattered into pieces. That had been surprisingly easy.

My eye turned to the rest of the raging battlefield, seeing how easy that had been, I had to wonder, who else could I do that to?

My boots crunched over the remains of Paura, looking for my next target.

* * *

My eyes shot open and I scanned the ceiling, breathing heavily as I remembered the dream. It had been short, but still horrifying. I'd been so close that night, so close to giving in, so close killing her.

I hadn't, but it didn't change the fact that I could have.

I sat up and put my head in my hands. This wasn't going to leave me alone for a while, knowing that I could have done it. I had the power, the skills to do it, I'm glad that I didn't, but the capability, that, _mad_, mentality, that was still there.

What if I snapped again? What if it did happen again I couldn't snap out of it? What would happen then?

I sighed and pulled my head out of my hands, squinting at my alarm clock. Just before 4AM, wonderful.

I looked at Jamie and Taboo, both of them sleeping and dozing respectively and peacefully. I wasn't going to wake them up.

I got my glasses, got out of bed and grabbed my hoodie from the back of the desk chair, where I'd left it. I pulled it on and pushed my glasses on before stealthily making my way out of the room. I knew what worked when I had a nightmare. I needed to go for a run.

I pulled on my shoes and left via the window, as usual.

I ran around Burgess for about an hour, but it just wasn't working. Running usually cleared my head, but now all I could think of was the nightmare, and the implications.

Eventually I decided enough was enough. I needed to go the place I always went to when I needed to relax. The lake.

I got there easily and sat in a tree with my hood pulled up, watching the lake's frozen surface. Burgess hadn't had snow yet, but I knew that it was on the way. It wasn't in the air, but I knew Jack would be coming by soon.

Speaking of which, if I was being honest, I wanted to talk to him. He'd probably panic a bit, but I wouldn't even go my fellow Descendants about this. I just wanted to know if Jack ever got that, that, madness. Or if it was just me.

_It could have been an isolated event._ Said one part of me. _You were under stress and Penelope was lost, again._

_And what if it wasn't?_ Went another part. _What if it's still there?_

I thudded the back of my head against the tree trunk to try and shut my brain up. I just wanted to be calm, to relax, to forget it. Except of course my brain wouldn't let me.

"Ya're up early."

I started in surprise and looked out of my tree, to see Bunnymund standing below me.

"...What are you doing here?" I asked. Perhaps I should have been more respectful, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind right now. He probably wouldn't have reacted well to it anyway.

"Lookin' fer Jack," he said plainly. "Ya seen 'im?"

"No," I was now worried, but given how relaxed Bunnymund was, I decided that it wasn't that big a deal. Jack liked his space after all.

"Any idea where 'e might be?"

"Either one of the Poles." I replied.

"We've checked."

"No idea then." I shrugged, looking back up at the sky.

I heard Bunnymund, begin to walk away, then his footsteps stopped and I heard him sigh a little irritably.

"I know Frostbite would kill me if I didn't ask, but are ya okay?"

"Fine."

"Yeah, because sitting in a tree in yer pyjamas at five in the mornin' is the definition of fine."

"You're out at this time," I looked back down at the Guardian.

"I'm doin' something and work all hours, you don't. And I don't know about you, but when Jack has his hood up, it's usually a sign that somethin's botherin' him."

"I'm not Jack. Hadn't you better be looking for him?"

"The others are also lookin', we can talk for a bit."

"There's nothing to talk about," I said, finally deciding to get out of the tree. I lowered myself from my branch and began walking away. "See you around."

There was a sudden rush of air and it was only my reflexes that saved me from getting hit in the head with a boomerang. I waited until the boomerang came back before straightening up and turned to face Bunnymund.

"What was that about?"

"Yer surprisingly similar to Jack. Somethin's buggin' ya," he gestured with his boomerang. "And I have a feelin' you should talk to someone about it."

"No offense, but why do you care? We don't know each other."

"None taken, and no, we don't. But that doesn't stop me from being worried."

"Yeah, you're worried about me," I responded sarcastically before shaking my head. "Why? It doesn't matter anyway."

Bunnymund chuckled. "Ya know, Jack doesn't go on about ya often, but when he does all he ever says that you're really good at what ya do, or that he's worried about ya. So because I know Jack would be worried, I feel like I should make sure."

"Well, you've made sure, I'm fine."

"No you're not."

I paused, then shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket. "Fine, I'm not. Can I go now?"

"Not yet. What's wrong?"

"Doesn't matter." I turned to leave, but this time I didn't have time to react as a boomerang collided with my head.

"Ow!" I turned back to face Bunnymund as he caught the boomerang. "Was that necessary?"

Bunnymund didn't answer, instead he gestured with the boomerang to a point at the base of a tree. "Sit."

I frowned. "No."

"As I understand it, a Descendant can't ignore a direct order from an immortal they share an allegiance with." Bunnymund had an annoyingly smug smirk on his face, which was oddly similar to Billy's. "So, sit down."

I stood in place for a second, so tempted to walk away, but I was tired and I had some Descendant integrity. So I walked over to the section of bank that Bunnymund had pointed to and sat down.

"Okay, I'm sat down."

Bunnymund nodded, walked over and sat down next to me. "Talk."

"About what?"

"About why yer out here so late."

I didn't say anything for a bit, hoping that I might be able to wait out the Pooka, but it was soon clear that that wasn't going to work.

"I had a nightmare."

A normal person would brush that off, but as a Guardian, Bunnymund knew about how bad nightmares could be.

"Pitch?"

"Doubt it."

"What was it about?"

"Doesn't matter," I poked the ice with my foot, watching it crack and freezing it again.

"Jackie..." Bunnymund almost growled warningly.

I didn't answer for a bit.

"The battle in Melbourne."

"The whole thing?"

"No, just, one bit," my mouth just started going without me wanting it to, but I just went with it.

"There was a part when I got pulled away from the main fight. A Descendant of Pitch, Paura," the name sent shivers down my spine. I didn't want to remember her.

"She seems to have something against me, although given my record I'm not surprised. We fought, and then something happened. I, I just..."

Bunnymund waited patiently as I fumbled for the words.

"I...I don't know. It was like a switch had been flicked. I wanted to freeze her solid, I wanted to kill her, I was going to! I...I never..."

"Breathe," said Bunnymund and I stopped talking, breathing in through the nose, and out through the mouth. I finally noticed that my hands had been shaking and that frost was curling from where I had been sitting.

Once I'd calmed down a bit I continued.

"I didn't. I got snapped out of it by her screaming. A scream of pain..." I looked down at my feet and shook my head. "In the nightmare, I didn't stop. I froze, then shattered her, and it seemed so easy in the dream, horribly easy."

I just looked at my hands, finding it way too easy to imagine freezing someone solid with them. "I don't want that to happen."

"It was probably a one off," said Bunnymund, trying to calm me down.

"And if it isn't?" my head snapped towards him. "What if I slip into that state again? What if I can't snap out? What if I kill someone?!"

"Yer not a killer."

"Oh really?!" I cried, getting to my feet and beginning to pace with my arms switching from being folded, hand on my chin and gesturing wildly. "Then you clearly you know nothing of my history!"

Bunnymund was looking at me in clear confusion, so I elaborated. "I've done it before! When I was younger, six people..."

"When ya were younger, ya couldn't control it properly."

"I know, that's what it was at the time, but the point stands. I have done it."

"And ya don't want to do it again?"

"Of course not! I don't get some kind of sick, twisted pleasure out of it! I see their faces when I fall asleep. Even now I see them in my nightmares! I don't... I don't want..."

I paused in my pacing, hand on my chin while the other arm was wrapped around my chest. To my utter horror I found that I was starting to cry. My throat was burning and I could feel early tears freezing just below my eyes as I tried to wipe them away with my finger and thumb.

Bunnymund looked stunned, at what I wasn't sure, but he sort of sat there like he wasn't sure what to do.

"I don't want it to happen again," I tried to get myself under control, but my voice still came out hoarse. "The Descendants of Pitch call me a murderer, and I can't deny that, can I?"

Bunnymund was still just staring, and it was really freaking me out. I sniffed and tried to clear my throat, flicking away any other tears that might have appeared. "Say something dammit!"

Bunnymund stood up and took a step over.

"Alrigh', I'm not good at this," he said, looking awkward. He put a paw on my shoulder and I flinched involuntarily from the heat. Like Toothiana he was warmer than a normal human.

As I flinched I felt his grip relax, but he changed his mind and didn't move his paw. He then stood in front of me with a paw on each shoulder and crouched down a bit, so he could look me in the eye.

"If ya really don't want it to, then it won't happen again. Ya won't let it."

"How do you know that?" I wasn't looking at him, looking at my feet as frost curled up the sides, then retreated again.

"Because ya're horrified by what's already 'appened. Ya won't let it happen again."

"Nice to know you have that kind of faith." I said, smirking slightly, but still not looking up.

"Ya know it's there now, so ya can stop it," Bunnymund reasoned. "Or, you could get help."

"You think I have the money for a psychiatrist?" I asked, looking up now, my smirk becoming amused.

"I dunno how this works anymore!" Bunnymund got a little frustrated and backed off, folding his arms.

I laughed a little, and he smiled a bit, possibly relieved that I wasn't going to explode or cry again.

A thought seemed to occur to him, and he looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, um," he coughed. "I'd 'ppreciate it if ya didn't tell Frostbite that just happened."

"Likewise." I said, I didn't feel like putting up with that kind of teasing. "Thank you, though." I did feel a lot calmer, and a little lighter. Getting that off my chest had in fact helped.

"Welcome." Bunnymund sniffed the air. "I'd better get going now."

"Yeah, so had I." I said, checking for any stray bits of ice on my face. "Thanks again for putting up with that. And, good luck with finding Jack, I'll let you know if I see him."

"Welcome, and thanks," he said, before tapping the ground twice with his foot and disappearing.

**The thing with Jack isn't a big deal, don't worry about.**

**So, this one has been in the works for a while, since it's in 1st Person. It took a while for me to make sure Bunny was in character. This is only a week or so after the events of Don't Fear the Reaper, so the Meetings arc hasn't happened yet, so Jackie and Bunny are still on uncertain terms. Really they stay that way until 'Clearing the Air', but it's a bit more pronounced here.**

**This is also an issue which hasn't been brought up much. What happened in Don't Fear the Reaper Chapter 31, where Jackie goes a little nuts. It's not really mentioned again, except for a couple of times in Black Sheep and even then it's more implicit than explicit. It would in fact linger in Jackie's mind for a while. It wouldn't happen again, but it doesn't stop her worrying about it.**


End file.
